Shola Oyeyipo
some people evaded the security in my house and got all the way to my room where I was sleeping with my wife - there was a struggle, there was a fight with heavy commotion and by the grace of God we eventually caught one of them while the rest escaped”.
Ekweremadu expressed concern that several hours after the assassination attempt was reported to top hierarchy of the police, there was no response until sene hours after.
Said he : “The annoying aspect of it or the one that is worrisome is that at that point I called the Inspector-General of police (IGP), his phone was off, I called some of his aides, their phones rang out and nobody replied till now, I called DIG operations, till I left my house nobody showed up.
“I now had my people invite the DPO in charge of Apo police station. We didn’t see him till about 5:30,am he sent his 2nd-in-command who came and he saw the dangerous weapons that they left behind, he left and said that the DPO was coming until I left my house by 9am, the DPO had not come.”
Ekweremadu emphasized the level of insecurity in the country saying “nobody is safe in this country, I want to appeal to my colleagues and the general public that we all continue to be prayerful, be conscious of our private security, it appears that the security is not in the hands of government but the Almighty God”
The Senate thereafter resolved to probe the assassination attempt on the Deputy Senate President and directed its Committee on Police to properly investigate the incident and report back to Senate in two weeks.
The Senate on the same Tuesday received confirmation of appointment requests from President Muhammadu Buhari. The requests include constitution of a six-man governing board headed by Dr Kabiru Nakaura for the National Bureau of Statistics, substitution of Chief Bode Mustapha with Mrs Ronke Sokefun as Chairman of Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation, NDIC, confirmation of the appointment of Chidi Izuwah as Director-General of Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission and Abike Dabiri-Erewa as Chairman of National Diaspora Commission.
The following day, the upper legislative chamber through a motion moved by Senator Clifford Ordia (Edo Central) extolled the virtues of former Minister of Works and Housing, late Chief Tony Anenih urged the federal government to name the National Institute of Construction Technology and Management, Uromi after the late politician popularly called Mr Fix It.
The Senate also made a u-turn on the funding of the 2019 polls by approving that the Virement should be from 2018 Appropriation of Ministries, Departments and Agencies, MDAs. Citing Order 53(6) of the Senate Standing Rules, the Senate rescinded and reconsidered its October 16 approval of the N242.245bn request for the 2019 polls and emphasized that the fund will now be sourced from 2018 Appropriation of MDAs and Service Wide Vote (Special Intervention Programme, SIP).
The Senate did not sit for long on Thursday as it immediately adjourned to Tuesday to enable the Senators attend the African Parliamentary Union conference at ECOWAS secretariat at Asokoro, Abuja. The Senators therefore could not consider the motions and bills already outlined for consideration on the Order Paper. Among the Bills listed for consideration were A Bill for an Act to repeal the Nuclear Safety and Radiation Protection Act No 19 of 1995; A Bill for an Act to repeal the National Commission for Colleges of Education Act (No.3) of 1989 and to establish the National Commission for Teacher Education and other related matters,