Ekweremadu Meets Osinbajo On Senate Invasion, Missing Mace

The Deputy Senate President, Senator Ike Ekweremadu, on Wednesday briefed Vice President Yemi Osinbajo on the forceful removal of the Senate mace by some hoodlums on Wednesday morning.
Ekweremadu was in company of the Senior Special Assistant to the President on National Assembly (Senate), Senator Ita Enang.
Ekweremadu told State House Correspondents that the briefing was aimed at preventing future occurrence of such act in the legislature to forestall breakdown of law and order.
According to the Deputy Senate President, when such incidents occur, it is imperative that the leadership of the National Assembly briefs the Presidency immediately.
He added that since Senate President Abubakar Bukola Saraki was out of the country, he had to brief Osinbajo as President Muhammadu Buhari was also attending the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in the United Kingdom.
Ekweremadu said: “I came to brief the Vice President to ensure that there is law and order in the country.
“When there is this type of development, it is important that he is briefed at the earliest opportunity.
“The Senate President is out of the country, so it is my responsibility to come and brief the vice president.
“And he has sympathized with us over what happened and he is going to join forces with us to ensure that we get to the root of the matter and make sure this does not happen again.”
According to Ekweremadu, the invasion of the Senate “is a threat to our democracy”.
He said: “The invasion of the parliament is not acceptable to any person.
“It is not acceptable to me, it is not acceptable to my colleagues, it is not acceptable to the Vice President and I believe it is not acceptable to the President.”
Ekweremadu noted that those involved in the act were on their own.
He said: “I appeal to the media to help us bring an end to this brigandage so that people have to behave in a very responsible manner.
“But let me assure you that we are on top of the situation.
“We continued our sitting today and we are going to continue tomorrow.”
Ekweremadu said the police were still investigating the matter and that the Senate would find out those who aided the coming of the invaders.
“I believe some of them have been arrested and we will get to the root of the matter,” he declared.