PDP leaders condemn assault on Senator
From Bodunrin Beckley (Minna) and Charles Coffie-Gyamfi (Abeokuta)
FOR allegedly assaulting a female colleague, a distinguished member of the Upper House may be sanctioned by the Niger State branch of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
Trouble started for Senator Isa Mohammed when his ward chairman, Alhaji Danteni Abdullahi, petitioned the state executive, suggesting that disciplinary measures should be taken against the Senator for dragging the name of the state into the mud as a result of his action.
Mohammed, representing (Zone A, Niger State), had alleged slapped Senator Iyabo Anisulowo of Ogun West Senatorial District over the spending of N1.2 million allocated to the Senate Committee on States and Local Councils.
Both senators are members of the committee. Anisulowo heads the committee while Mohammed is the vice-chairman.
The Niger State Secretary of the party, Mr. Tanko Beji, told newsmen in Minna that the party was ashamed of the action of the Senator and was indeed considering disciplinary measures that would ensure that such an act did not repeat itself.
"Indeed, we are stunned by the action of the Senator and we are ready to do everything within the constitution of the party to stem the tide of such misbehaviour in future.
"We condemn the action of the Senator and I can assure you that we dissociate ourselves from such shameful behaviour aimed at portraying people from this state in the wrong light," Beji said.
He expressed regrets at the development, adding that senators are supposed to be distinguished officers of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
He said that the action of the Senator was a sign that the Senator did not seem to have any respect for due processes and the very reforms, which the PDP-controlled government was trying to handle.
"I therefore, join the Niger State government to apologise and appeal to the distinguished Senator Iyabo Anisulowo for the sad, unfortunate and unwarranted assault on her person."
The Speaker of the State House of Assembly, Jikantoro, also condemned the action of Senator Mohammed. He also appealed for forgiveness from the female Senator who was assaulted.
Jikantoro noted that the state government was pained by the action of the Senator and joined all decent and well-meaning Nigerians in condemning it regardless of what might have precipitated this kind of abomination.
Both the Speaker and the Secretary assured that the PDP at the state level would further investigate the event and call the Senator to order.
Meanwhile, former Presidential Adviser on Women Affairs, Chief (Mrs.) Titi Ajanaku, has called on the Senate to take punitive measures against Senator Isa Mohammed for allegedly slapping a female Senator, Mrs.` Iyabode Anisulowo.
The incident, which was said to have dazed Anisulowo, took place in the eyes of the public. But Mohammed has since denied that he ever slapped his female colleague.
Reacting to the alleged assault, Ajanaku who said she was baffled to read the news, questioned the manner of person Senator Mohammed was.
The former Presidential Adviser, who spoke in Abeokuta, insisted: "I believe that the women-folk should protest and that the man should be disciplined. I feel sad, enough is enough. But that person should be dealt with. How can he slap somebody else's wife, somebody else's mother and somebody else's sister, a colleague, a whole Senator, a representative of a constituency? The Senate should seriously discipline him."
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