Nigerian senator behind Buhari impeachment motion assaulted

A Nigerian senator who initiated a motion of impeachment against President Buhari last week has been reportedly harassed by suspected supporters of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) party.

Senator Mathew Urhoghide who represents people in the southern Edo State last week initiated an impeachment motion against Buhari over the withdrawal of funds without the necessary legislative approval.

He, however, stressed in an interview with the Vanguard news portal that he was not fazed by the APC members who attacked him at the Benin State airport late last week.

The Senator in narrating his ordeal said a young man violently approached him, hit his head, removed his hat and threw it away in the full glare of the state Governor and the police chief yet they did nothing about it.

“If this game is not played along the direction that some people want it, then they see you as a deviant. That is what you saw yesterday, asking a riffraff, a boy of no consequence to lay his hands on me, an elected representative of the people, a serving Senator, it is a shame on this country.

According to him, his action was in the interest of protecting the larger public interest and more so part of the discharge of his constitutional mandate as a lawmaker.

“I don’t have any regret for what I said. I stand on it. Where did I embarrass the President? Because of selfish interest here and people want to show to the President that everybody is cowed in Edo.

“This is not a war I want to fight on partisan basis. I have immunity on what I said at the floor of the Senate. I am being crucified outside for what I said during plenary. I am going to report back to the Senate. All the security agencies must see the threat I am subjected to because I performed my duty as a Senator

“They have promised to deal with me. If not for the State Commissioner of Police yesterday, nobody knows what would have happened. I obeyed the Police Commissioner; I remained where I was until the Governor came. “We were side by side talking when a boy hit my head. The Governor walked away. Before I left Abuja, I knew what was happening and the person responsible for it. I called him to tell him that it was unnecessary, but he didn’t pick his calls.‎

“It would be cowardice for me to abort the journey. I want to see what will happen, they display their thuggery, I am not cowed by it. I will represent my constituency and do whatever I want to do. I am going to take it to a proper court.

“It is a shame that at this time of our political development when other nations are moving in the right direction and the type of representation the eight Assembly has provided since 2015, people could still be cowed and harassed because of the views they have expressed which is defending the constitution.

Buhari earlier this month openly stated that he will seek the APC’s candidature to run for a final term in elections due for 2019. A major challenge his administration faces is the incidence of intercommunal clashes that have claimed lives of scores of people.

The Catholic bishops of Nigeria in a recent communication urged Buhari not to stand for another term given that he had failed to secure the country from the current security crisis.

The main opposition People’s Democratic Party (PDP) have yet to pick a candidate for the polls. The communal clashes in the middle belt is not the only security headache the administration faces, Boko Haram insurgents are still a threat in parts of the country’s northeast.