The Senate on Wednesday raised an adhoc committee to investigate the allegations of assault laid against Senator Elisha Abbo Cliff (PDP, Adamawa).
Elisha was alleged to have assaulted a lady recently at a sex toy shop in Abuja. The video of the incident went viral on the social media on Tuesday.
Raising the matter on the floor of the Senate on Wednesday under matters of privileges, Senator Uba Sani (APC, Kaduna), said the development has brought him and the entire Senate to ridicule.
He said he had received over 111 calls between Tuesday evening and Wednesday morning from both within and outside Nigeria, and that he was severely embarrassed by the incident as a senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
He said the Senate must take a decisive action on the issue in order to redeem its image, battered as a result of the incident.
At this point, Senate President, Ahmad Lawan said whatever that was seen or read on the social media and the main stream media on the matter remained allegations unless they were investigated.
Contributing, Senator Opeyemi Bamidele (APC, Ekiti), suggested that the matter should be investigated to unravel the true situation of what transpired.
On his part, Minority Leader, Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe (PDP, Abia), said the Senate rules provided how each and every senator should behave both within and outside the chamber.
He said as privileged Nigerians, they have the responsibility of behaving in a good way, but that the matter at hand could not be judged until an investigation was done.
Senate Leader, Senator Abdullahi Yahaya (APC, Kebbi) supported the move to constitute an adhoc panel to probe the matter.
Senate President Lawan then remarked that he had received several calls from within and outside the country on the issue, noting that the Senate would not condone any act of violence against Nigerians.
He said the investigation would provide an opportunity for Sen Abbo to defend himself and the lady alleged to have been assaulted an avenue to prove her case.
He consequently announced that the adhoc panel would be headed by Senator Samuel Egwu (PDP, Ebonyi), with senators Oluremi Tinubu (APC,Lagos), Matthew Urhoghide (PDP, Edo), Stella Oduah (PDP, Anambra), Mohammed Sani Musa (APC, Niger), Danladi Sankara (APC, Jigawa) and Halliru Dauda Jika (APC, Bauchi) as members.
The Senate President gave the adhoc panel two weeks to conclude its assignment.
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