Buhari sacrifices Omo-Agege for Saraki, Dogara

The search for peaceful relationship between the executive and the legislature may have compelled President Buhari to resolve to seek cooperation with the National Assembly leadership and abandon Senator Omo-Agege.

The Monday, May 6, 2018, meeting between involving President Muhammadu Buhari, President of the Senate, Dr. Abubakar Bukola Saraki, and Speaker of the House of Representatives, Right Honourable Yakubu Dogara, at the Presidential Villa, seemingly marked a turning point in the case of the invasion of the Senate by Senator Ovie Omo-Agege who led hoodlums into the Upper Chambers to steal the Mace during plenary.  The President who convened the meeting with the Presiding Officers of the National Assembly to deliberate on the frosty relationship between the executive and the legislature, promised to order proper investigation into the criminal act in the Senate on Wednesday, April 18, 2018, which was widely telecast across the world, and take appropriate actions.

The President of the Senate and the House Speaker observed after the meeting that the stealing of mace and invasion of the Upper Chamber was an attack on the entire country and not just the National Assembly.

President Buhari who was on official visit to the United Kingdom when the Senator led hoodlums to invade the Senate, has maintained pacific silence since he returned to Nigeria, raising suspicion that the President may be in support of the Senator and the criminal act.  The suspicion was germane when the president’s silence is juxtaposed with the claim by Omo-Agege that the amendment of the Electoral Act and alteration of the INEC time table for the 2019 general elections was targeted at the president. The statement led to the suspension of the senator for 90 days. Within the period of the suspension, the senator invaded the Chamber of the Senate with hoodlums who, in his presence, took away the mace during plenary which the Police later claimed was found under a bridge in Abuja.