Lucky Obukohwo Reporting
The Senator representing Edo North senatorial district at the national assembly, Adams Oshiomhole has swallowed the humble pie by openly apologizing to his colleagues over his indicting comments that property in offices of senators were looted at the end of the ninth National Assembly in June.
This however did not go down well with the members of the Senate thereby leading to a rowdy session at the floor of the house.
The clash followed a point of order by Solomon Adeola, who slammed Oshiomhole over the claim.
The former Edo State governor, in a television interview on Sunday had alleged that despite the presence of security men in the National Assembly, television sets, carpets and chairs were carted away in both offices of senators and members of the House of Representatives.
He said: “I was shocked by the level of vandalisation of property of the National Assembly. Televisions were carted away, carpets were carted away, senators’ chairs were carted away. I had to use my money and someone also decided to deliver to me a printer, to give me a laptop to use in my office. I had to buy the carpet and pay the cost of fixing it. I had to pay some young people to clean the office to restore the new carpet. I had to pay to repaint my office. I will produce you the receipt. Almost all the items in offices of lawmakers were moved away by the occupants. Some members of the 10th Senate grumbled that the offices allocated to them were barely empty and that they had to purchase some items with personal money to enable them work.
“We are respectable people and we believe we should live above board,” he said.
He said his privileges had been breached, while Adamu Aliero, dismissed Oshiomhole’s statement as misleading and false. They both asked Oshiomhole to apologise for accusing members of the ninth Senate of looting.
The plenary session degenerated into a rowdy session following an attempt by the Chief Whip of the Senate, Mohammed Ali Ndume, through a point of order, to call for an executive session to discuss the “sensitive” matter.
Lawmakers opposed the call with a resounding nay when it was put to voice vote. Ndume’s second motion that the matter be referred to the Committee on Ethics, Privileges and Public Petitions was also rejected by his colleagues.
At this point, Deputy Senate President Jibrin Barau interjected, saying the items were not looted but removed legally in line with the tradition of the National Assembly. He said Oshiomhole made the statement out of ignorance because he is new in the Senate.
Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, called on Oshiomhole to approach the chair. After a brief talk, Akpabio asked him to defend himself.
Oshiomhole said he defended the collective integrity of the senate during his television interview, and did not indict members of the 9th Senate of looting their offices.
“At no time did I said senators looted their offices. I only said offices were vandalised and that many senators had to use their personal money to purchase basic items for their offices. I was defending the erroneous impression out there that we appropriated N70 billion to ourselves. But for those who feel that my comment, which was meant to protect our collective image was offensive, of course, I apologize. I cannot leave the comfort of my house to go and abuse the house of which I’m a member”, Oshiomhole said.