Urhobo leaders throw their weight behind Omo-Agege's bid to become deputy senate president

URHOBO leaders have thrown their weight behind Delta Central Senatorial District's Senator Ovie Omo-Agege's bid to become the next deputy senate president when National Assembly leadership positions are decided next week.

On June 10, the ninth National Assembly will elect new leaders with the race for senate president and his deputy being among the two most fiercely contested. With the senate presidency zoned to the northeast by the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), the three main candidates for the job are Senator Ahmad Lawan of Yobe North, Senator Ali Ndume of Borno South and Senator Danjuma Goje of Gombe Central.

APC leaders have zoned the deputy senate presidency to the south-south geo-political zone and the two main contenders are Senator Omo-Agege and Senator Francis Alimikhena of Edo North. After a meeting of Urhobo leaders at the PTI Conference Centre in Effurun in Delta State, they proclaimed that they are solidly behind Senator Omo-Agege.

After the meeting, Chief Adelabu Bodjor, the vice chairman of the Delta State chapter of the APC, called on all Urhobos and senators-elect from other ethnic groups and geopolitical zones to support Senator Omo-Agege’s bid. He used the occasion to chide a group known as the Urhobo Political Group, who he described as non-Urhobos, for attempting to betray the collective interest and truncate the destiny of the ethnic group.

Chief Bodjor said: “We have just discovered that a handful of gangsters, who are unarguably sponsored by the enemies of Urhobo, have gone on air to declare support for an Igbo senator contesting for the same post. Their move to support an Igbo Senator for the position that’s already in the kitty of the Urhobo nation is wicked, mischievous and unpatriotic.”

Surrounded by eminent personalities who cut across ethnic and religious divides, he affirmed that since the APC has zoned the deputy senate president slot to the south-south geo-political zone, no other senator but Omo-Agege, was more qualified. All the speakers at the event said that with Senator Omo-Agege serving as deputy senate president, Urhobos would be well represented in the National Assembly.

Chief Bodjor added:“We must, for all intent and purposes, emphasise that the senate seat and by extension, the accompanying office of the deputy senate president, are not for Senator Omo-Agege as a person. That seat is for Urhobo nation who voted massively for the senator to represent them in the Senate.”

A passionate supporter of President Muhammadu Buhari controversial Senator Omo-Agege clashed with his colleagues in the upper chamber following their decision to amend the Electoral Act 2010, which governs the sequence of polls in a general election. This led to him being suspended from the senate for 90 days for insulting the National Assembly.

Following his unanimous suspension, the senator became ineligible to participate in the senate's activities for 90 legislative days or six months. It is believed that in response, he hired hoodlums and stormed the senate, seizing its mace, the symbol of authority, which later led to his arrest.