The Nigeria Senate was yesterday thrown into pandemonium as unknown thugs made away with the mace, a symbol of authority which the Senate leader holds as he enters and exits the chamber.
The police soon recovered the stolen mace from the suspected thugs barely 24 hours after, the Deputy Force Public Relations Officer, Mr Aremu Adeniran said in a statement in Abuja on Thursday.
Lawmakers from the Upper Chamber have condemned the incident which they described as an act of treason. They suspect Senator Ovie Omo-Agege representing Delta Central senatorial district, as leading the thugs who made away with mace to the plenary.
Senator Omo-Agege was arrested by the police as a result, though he denied having a hand in the theft.
A search was launched by the police and the Department of State Service (DSS) after the incident. The Inspector General of the Police, Ibrahim Idris also ordered a Police Investigation and Intelligence Team led by the IGP Monitoring Unit of the force into the matter, Mr Aremu said.
This led to an intense surveillance patrol, a stop and search operations at checkpoints and general lockdown of the Federal Capital territory to arrest the culprits and recover the stolen mace.
The mace was recovered by the police under the flyover before the City Gate where the hoodlums abandoned it.
“The police teams engaged in massive raids of identified criminal spots/flashpoints, stop and search operations, visibility and confidence-building patrols, intelligence gathering which forced the suspected miscreants to abandon the mace at a point under the flyover before the City Gate, where a patriotic passer-by saw it and alerted the police,” the statement read.
An investigation into the matter is still ongoing to bring the culprits to book, The Deputy Force Public Relations Officer remarked. He thanked the general public for offering relevant information that led to the discovery of the mace. He assured Nigerians that the Police would continue to carry out its mandate of protecting both lives and property while ensuring peace and stability prevail at all times.
Photo Credit: AFP