Omo-Agege, who was accused of masterminding the invasion of the Senate chamber, had allegedly arrived at the National Assembly premises with thugs believed to be working for him on that day.

While reacting to the incident on Thursday during his campaign in Asaba, the All Progressives Congress Delta State governorship candidate stated that he never regretted his action.

He said, “I will never regret my action to shut down the 8th Senate to stop the impeachment of President Buhari. “Then, I was the de facto chairman of the Electoral Act, and after concluding our report, Saraki and his cohorts decided to change what we passed and sent to the House of Representatives for concurrent consideration just because they wanted to impeach President Buhari.

So, I protested and stopped them, and the Saraki group said they had suspended me. According to my understanding of the law, they do not have the authority to suspend me.

“Our group called the parliamentary group for support of Buhari in the Senate, then made efforts to stop them, and I showed up unexpectedly and shut down the sitting to stop the impeachment of President Buhari. I’m not regretting the role I played.”

On the governance of the state, Omo-Agege said, “If you make an objective assessment of every village, town, city, and local government area in Delta State, including the riverine areas, you will come to the sad conclusion that the state is lagging behind in every index of socio-economic development and economic prosperity.

“Ifeanyi Okowa’s government alone has swallowed up well over N2.8trn in seven years.

“There is poverty and profound infrastructural dilapidation from Asaba to Warri and environs, Ughelli to Udu, Sapele to Effurun, Koko to Oghara, Agbor to Ukwani, Ndokwa to Abraka, and other areas of the state.”

Deputy Senate President, Ovie Omo-Agege, disclosed this on Tuesday, October 5, while presiding over plenary.

President Buhari is expected to also present the budget to the Federal Executive Council (FEC) tomorrow October 6 before presenting it to the National Assembly.

Details of the Budget are yet to be revealed but it is speculated that the Ministries of Works and Housing; Finance, Budget and National Planning; and Defence would get the highest capital allocations.

The bill, which was sponsored by the Senate Minority Leader, seeks among others the appointment of service chiefs in line with a federal character based on the recommendations of members of the commission.

Nine senators spoke in favour of the bill while six were against it during a debate that followed Abaribe’s presentation.

Those who supported the proposed law are the Leader of the Senate, Abdullahi Yahaya; the Deputy Minority leader, Emmanuel Bwacha Opeyemi Bamidele; Istifanus Gyang, Chukwuka Utazi; and James Manager.

The senators who wanted the bill killed immediately were Francis Alimikhena, Ibrahim Oloriegbe, Adamu Aliero, Adamu Abdullahi, Mohammed Bulkachuwa and Danjuma Goje.

The Deputy Senate President, Ovie Omo-Agege, was evasive in his submissions.

The Senate president called for a voice vote and he ruled in favour of those who opposed the bill in what appeared to be a controversial decision.

Abaribe raised a point of order to challenge Lawan’s ruling and he called for a division whereby each senator would vote individually.

Lawan opposed Abaribe and his action led to an uproar which made him call for an emergency closed session.