I’m embarrassed by invasion of Senate – Buhari

“Can you imagine the irony? You cannot prove dictatorial attitude against President Muhammadu Buhari yet you accuse him of being a dictator who does not allow the independence of the legislature.  But you have clamped down on any member who expresses opinion different from yours and what is that called?  What did Ali Ndume do to warrant his suspension for 120 days without pay?  Now you did it to Omo-Agege but Omo-Agege is not Ndume and it is just a matter of impunity in the Senate cannot be allowed to go on unchecked.  That is what you are seeing,” said the Senate source.

President Muhammadu Buhari, on Monday, said he was embarrassed by the invasion of the senate by suspected hoodlums that made away with the mace which is the symbol of authority and said that proper investigation should be carried out to fish out those behind the invasion.

The President spoke as the Senate President, Bukola Saraki and the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, told President Buhari to call the Inspector General of Police, IGP Ibrahim to order and compel him to obey the laws of the land.

They also described the arraignment of the Senator representing Kogi West, Dino Melaye on wheelchair by the police as barbaric and uncivilised, saying that it did not give good image to the nation’s democracy.

Meantime, the two presiding officers of the National Assembly said that the 2018 budget report would likely be laid in the two chambers this week for its possible passage next week.

Speaking to State House correspondents after the closed-door meeting with President Buhari at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, the Senate President said that the meeting was at the instance of President Buhari to brief them on the outcome of his bilateral meeting with the American President, Donald Trump.

Saraki also said that issues bothering on the invasion of the senate by hoodlums on 29th April when the President was away to London, the United Kingdom to attend the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting, CHOGM, the refusal of the Inspector General of Police to honour invitation to him by the senate as well as the passage of the budget were discussed at the meeting.

Saraki had reportedly sparked crisis leading to the invasion of the Senate suspected political thugs, whose motive for doing so is yet to be known, as Senator Ovie Omo-Agege pointed at as allegedly masterminding the invasion has since denied it.

It would be recalled that crisis broke out in the Senate when Senate President Bukola Saraki’s anti-Buhari posture became obvious, some pro-Buhari Senators had said.

A reliable source in the Senate told The DEFENDER that it has become the norm in the Senate that Saraki would suspend any member who expresses opinions different from his, which the source said, “is exactly what Saraki accuses Buhari for”.

He said, “Can you imagine the irony? You cannot prove dictatorial attitude against President Muhammadu Buhari yet you accuse him of being a dictator who does not allow the independence of the legislature. But you have clamped down on any member who expresses opinion different from yours and what is that called?  What did Ali Ndume do to warrant his suspension for 120 days without pay?  Now you did it to Omo-Agege but Omo-Agege is not Ndume and it is just a matter of impunity in the Senate cannot be allowed to go on unchecked.  That is what you are seeing,” he said.