Senate backpedals on Omo-Agege, will allow him attend plenary sessions
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omo-agege a lawyer had challenged his suspension in court1 the nigerian senate said monday night that it will not stop senator ovie omo-agege from attending plenary on tuesday in compliance with a federal high court order1 but in a sudden twist the senate gave its new position in a statement by its spokesman senator sabi aliyu abdullahi chairman of the committee on media and publicity1 the senate leadership has been briefed by our lawyers on last thursday judgement of the federal high court abuja on whether the senate has the legal authority to suspend a member for certain misconduct or not1 we have equally filed an appeal against the judgement of the court and a motion for stay of execution of the judgement at the court of appeal1 as an institution that obeys the law and court orders the senate has decided that it will comply with the judgement of the federal high court and do nothing to stop senator ovie omo-agege from resuming in his office and at plenary from tomorrow may 15 2018 pending the determination of the application for stay of execution1 the senate has been advised that since the motion for stay of execution of the thursday may 10 2018 judgement shall be heard and possibly determine on wednesday may 16 2018 we shall therefore respect the subsisting high court judgement and await the appellate court decision on the pending motion said sabi abdullahi1 the senate backpedalling came hours after senator omo-agege vowed to attend todays session despite the reported beefing up of security by the national assembly authorities1 omo-agege spoke at the apc national secretariat citing his legal victory1 last week thursday a federal high court in abuja nullified the suspension of omo-agege for 90 days by his colleagues and declared it illegal1 justice nnamdi dimgba ordered his reinstatement with immediate effect1 the senator representing all progressives congress apc in delta central was suspended by the senate because he openly criticised the amendment of election sequence carried out by the senate1 he accused the senators of making provision for election sequence in the amended electoral act in disfavor of president muhammadu buhari1 the 2019 general election sequence released by the independent national electoral commission inec placed the presidential election first but the senators reversed it1 buhari refused to assent to the bill and the court had also ruled that the senate had no power to alter the sequence of election as fixed by inec1 the court also presided over by justice nnamdi dimgba declared omo-ageges suspension unconstitutional1 the senate had initially stated it would not respect the order since it has filed an appeal in a higher court1 dimgba said that the reason given by the senate and the senate president for suspending omo-agege was unconstitutional1 while the legislator has powers to take disciplinary measures against its members the reason given for the punishment is an unconstitutional reason1 i hereby nullify the suspension of the plaintiff omo-agege which was based on the recommendations of the senate committee on ethics privileges and public petitions with immediate effect1 dimgba also ordered the senate to pay omo-agege any outstanding salaries or allowances which were due to him during the period of the suspension1 the judge stated that the decision recommended by the committee to punish omo-agege for going to court was wrong and contravened sections 4 and 6 of the constitution adding that he had a right to go to court1 access to court is one key indicator of a democracy the exercise of his rights cannot be a basis for punishment1 the judge further stated that the court took judicial notice of the fact that while the suit was pending in court the senate went ahead to suspend the senator for 90 legislative days1 in sanctioning a legislator the legislature must act within the law. while this suit was pending and to the knowledge of the senate and the senate president they went ahead and imposed a sanction on him1 the judge also said that the 90 legislative days suspension was against order 67 rule 4 of the senate standing rules which provided for a lawmaker to be suspended for only 14 legislative days1 he maintained that suspending the senator for more than 14 days was denying his constituents the required representation1 he however held that the legislature had the powers to sanction any lawmaker who set out to make comments or act in a way that could bring disrepute to the institution1 but that the legislature went out of track and arrived at a wrong and false end by punishing the senator for exercising his rights1 according to him omo-ageges right was not breeched when the senate referred him to its committee on ethics privileges and public petitions as he erroneously believed1 omo-agege who represents delta central senatorial district filed the suit to challenge his suspension from the senate1 he asked the court to among other reliefs grant an order restraining the defendants their servants agents privies or officers from interfering with his rights and privileges as a senator and to make any order that it may be deem fit1