OVIE Omo-Agege, lawmaker representing Delta Central Senatorial District, said the All Progressives Congress (APC), have enough numbers to remove the Senate President, Bukola Saraki, who had defected to the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
Omo-Agege, who was alleged to have brought in the hoodlums that invaded the Senate chamber and snatched the mace in April this year, reiterated what Abu Ibrahim, a Kaduna Senator, said, that there would not be peace in the Senate if Saraki continues in office.
“The only way we can have the peace, as envisaged by Senator Abu Ibrahim, is for Saraki to step down,” Omo-Agege told The Punch during an interview.
“People need to tell Saraki that he is not a monarch, he was elected by senators and the same senators who elected him did so at that time because he was an APC senator; he was not elected just because he was a senator.
“If you recall when he was elected, did you see any senator of the PDP extraction taking part in the election of the Senate President? No PDP senator contested that presidency because they knew that the position was reserved for the majority party, the APC.
“As we speak today, Saraki is no longer a member of the majority party, the APC. That is why it is only fair, wise, just and legal to ask him to do the needful, which is to step down. And he must step down.”
Omo-Agege denied the allegation by former APC spokesman, Timi Frank, that the APC members in the Senate were promised between $400,0000 and $1 million each to ensure that Saraki was removed.
“That allegation is arrant nonsense and it is not worth the while to even dignify it with a response,” he said. “It is madness for anyone to say or insinuate that a senator of the Federal Republic is given money to do what is right. We believe it is right to ask Saraki to step down as the Senate President.”
The Delta lawmaker also said that the Department of State Security (DSS) was right to have blocked the National Assembly complex last Tuesday. He said the DSS presence there was necessitated by an intelligence report the agency got, that some PDP lawmakers planned to invade the complex.
He wondered why Acting President Yemi Osinbajo sacked the DSS Director General, Lawal Daura, for ordering the operation.
“I am not the acting President. I don’t know what information or intelligence he had or what facts were at his disposal that informed him to take that decision (sacking the DSS DG),” Om-Agege said.
“However, the information that we have is that the PDP senators and their colleagues in the House of Representatives invaded the National Assembly as early as 6 am on Tuesday while we were on recess.
“While they were there, several thugs who had no business in the National Assembly were also there. And as a consequence of this, the DSS moved in to prevent them from causing damage that could lead to chaos in the National Assembly.”
Omo-Agege won the Delta Central Senatorial seat on the platform of Labour Party, but he has since defected to the ruling APC. He is a fierce supporter of President Muhammadu Buhari.
The National Assembly is expected to reconvene on Tuesday, August 14, to consider the 2019 election budget forwarded to it by Buhari shortly before the lawmakers embarked on recess.