The Urhobo nation and the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Delta state have described Thursday’s suspension of the Senator representing Delta Central District as political intimidation and an attempt to rob them of their voice at the centre.

Stating this consensus at a gathering of Urhobo people and supporters of the APC in Ughelli, the headquarters of Ughelli North council area of Delta on Saturday, the chairman of the APC in Delta Central, Olorogun Adelabu Bodjor, also said that the Urhobo people would stand with their senator all the way.

The Senate had on Thursday suspended Senator Omo-Agege for his opposition to the elections reordering move of some of his colleagues and being part of the Parliamentary Support Group (PSG), a group known to be in support of President Muhammadu Buhari’s interest.

But in reaction to the Senate’s decision, Bodjor said that the Urhobo people had strongly condemned the suspension of the Senator, adding that it will not in any way deter or dampen his resolve to provide quality representation to his people and promote the interest of the nation in the National Assembly.

He said: “The incidence that took place in the National Assembly and the suspension of the Distinguished Senator representing the Urhobo people in the National Assembly, Senator Ovie Omo-Agege, has again called to question the affairs of the Nigerian Senate. Our Distinguished Senator has been providing quality representation to the people of Delta Central and we are proud of him.

“By suspending him, if the Senate leadership thinks that it will deter him, then they are wrong.  The Urhobo nation is solidly behind him, we believe in him and we will give him all our support at any time and any day in this whole process.  We therefore pass a vote of confidence on the distinguished Senator, Senator Obarisi Ovie Omo-Agege.  We still believe that he will bounce back better and stronger than his distractors in the National Assembly.

“But we want to say here and very emphatically, that Urhobo nation would never tolerate any act of political intimidation and threat to our Senator whom we overwhelmingly voted for to represent us in the National Assembly.  The primary responsibility of Senator Ovie Omo-Agege in the National Assembly is to provide quality representation to the people of Delta Central and attract the dividends of democracy to the Urhobo people and that he has been doing excellently well since we cast our votes for him to the Senate.

“We therefore use this medium to call on our Distinguished Senator never to despair because he has the backing of the entire Urhobo people who voted him to the National Assembly to represent us and not to represent some individuals in the National Assembly.  He is there to represent the interest of the

Urhobo nation and not the interest of a very few persons in the National Assembly who feel their election is to feed themselves and the members of their immediate family negating the interest of the nation.”

Olorogun Bodjor also took a swipe at the APC Senators in the National Assembly, adding that “it is a shame that the party has the leadership of the National Assembly but it has decided to stand the morals of good leadership on its head and has also decided to take the party that brought them to power on a roller-coaster.

“We call on the national leadership of the party to call the members of the party at the National Assembly to order before they take the party down the cliff hanger.  The national lawmakers got the mandate of the people of Nigeria to make enduring laws that will better the lot of Nigerians and the future generation of our children in general.  They were not voted for go and feather their own nests and engage in selfish activities to the detriment of good governance for the entire Nigerian people”

Highpoint of the occasion was the passing of overwhelming vote of confidence on Senator Ovie Omo-Agege by the Urhobo people.