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Fred Ezeh, Abuja
A Coalition of Civil Society and Youth Groups has accused the leadership of the Senate of shielding Deputy Senate President (DSP), Senator Ovie Omo-Agege, from prosecution for alleged perjury.
The group had accused Omo-Agege of allegedly concealing his conviction by the state bar court of California, Los Angeles, United States of America (USA), in case No. 94-C-14401, and willfully concealed the fact of the conviction from the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and the Nigerian Senate, thereby, contravening the provisions of the Nigerian Constitution and the Rules of the Senate.
Co-convener of the group, Danesi Momoh Prince, who addressed a press conference in Abuja, said that the group has formally written to the leadership of the Senate for appropriate actions, but they are unhappy that Senate was yet to do the needful.
But DSP Omo-Agege through his media aide, Yomi Odunuga, dismissed the allegations by the group as false.
Odunuga in a reaction maintained that Senator Omo-Agege was cleared of all charges in the said case and he was never a convict in the US as being alleged.
He said: “Till date, he travels freely without any hint of harassment. We state, without any equivocation, that Senator Omo-Agege is committed to his mandate and would not be distracted by the antics of disgruntled and defeated politicians hiding behind a so-called ‘youth group’ without any meaningful antecedent, seeking to stir up confusion through mere mischief and without facts.
“Let it be put on record that while his media office has been strictly instructed not to descend into the gutter to play their piggery games of petty mischief, the Senator has nothing to hide and he would continue with his passionate desire and populist dynamism, towards making Nigeria a better nation for future generations.”
But the co-convener of the youth group, Momoh Prince, said: “It’s unfortunate that the Senate recently denied receipt of our letter/petition on these allegations of criminal record and act tagged to Senator Augustine Ovie Omo-Agege. For the records, we submitted the petition to the office of the Senate President on Friday 17th January, 2020, for the Senate to act upon.
“So, we called on the Senate to go ahead and act on our petition. If they want, we can re-submit the petition if they claim to have lost the former. We have equally observed that the Senator is making efforts to escape the hammer of the law, by using an alien group to go to court without evidence or proper brief of arguments.
“We would not relent to pursue a just course towards promoting rule of law, accountability and equal justice vis-a-vis preserving the sanctity, dignity and integrity of the National Assembly.”
