By Ighomuaye Lucky. O
The Senator representing Edo South senatorial district at the National Assembly, Senator Neda Imasuen, has raised the concern that some persons have been paid to work for his recall from the Senate, following his role in the Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan and the Senate President, God’swill Akpabio’s sexual harassment saga.
He said this while addressing Journalists in Benin City on his roles as the Chairman, Senate Committee of Ethics Privileges
He said such a move will not see the light of the day.
Imasuen said that there is no political link between the people of Edo State and that of Kogi, therefore, such move cannot work and that those plotting such, should desist from it forthwith.
“And there is an event that is quickly taking place now, that is necessitating this press conference. I have been advised from the beginning not to say anything, and I have strictly adhered to that advice but for what is happening in Benin, it’s some things that I find very reprehensible and I don’t really understand it but for what I understand, that they have been paid as a matter of fact some of them have been taken to Kogi, to be briefed on what to do. And they were giving money for that purpose.
“So they are here to to work for their money but surprisingly, I don’t see how somebody from Kogi can be coming to Edo and be telling our own people here to start throwing stones on their roofs.
“That is something that is strange to me. I guess it is the hunger that is in the land that some people will sell their mothers, and sell their parents, and sell whatever is before them for a piece of meal. So I can understand their plight”, Imasuen said.
Imasuen said that his role as the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Ethics, Privileges, and Public Petitions, was to deal with the issue of what transpired at the floor of the senate and not sexual harassment, noting that the senate has a standing order which should be followed to the letter and which she didn’t adhere to.
“I am the chairman Senate Committee of Ethics Privileges and Public Petitions. I see clearly that the chairmanship was given to me a little more than two years ago. Is a standing committee. It is not an ad-hoc committee.
“This is one of the committees that the senate must set up as soon as it comes to life. It’s one the seven standing committees. It’s an important committee.
“And so I am proud and I thank the leadership of the Senate for giving Edo this position. And when I was given this position little did I know that know that the saga that is going on today was going to occur. But of course, if you sit on a chair to do your duties every thing comes through your table. You don’t run away from it. You attend to them.
“And in all fairness, I have been very, very fair in what I have done. I must also put on record here that the issue that was before my committee was the issue of the conduct on the floor of the Senate. It has nothing absolutely to do with sexual harassment.
“Sexual harassment came after the first petition that was brought before my committee. And we have standing rules. And those standing rules must be followed and we followed that standing rules to the letter. It is not a one-man committee. It’s a committee of about 28-29 members.
“I am only the chairman I have nothing personal against anybody. I have attended to varieties of matters in that committee since the inception.
“Whether it is oil spillage in the Niger Delta, whether it’s somebody that have been rusticated from the university.
“Whether it’s someone who felt or who feels that he has been denied promotion, whether it is somebody who in the military feels that he has been unjustly sent out of the military, whether it’s somebody who believes that the promotion due him has been denied him, all manners of complaints, petition come to to my table”, Imasuen said.
The Senator representing the Edo South senatorial district maintained emphatically that he was never biased against Senator Natasha.
“I was not biased and I’m still not biased at all regardless. On the issue of sexual harassment, the first petition that was laid by the petitioner was signed by her and that’s it against our standard rule.
“The petition cannot be signed by you, it’s senator, if you are the one that is involved in that petition, you are the petitioner”, Imasuen said.
