CLOSE-UP: Senator Omo-Age, son of the judge who sentenced Anini to death in 1986

One week after the senate suspended Ovie Omo-Agege, lawmaker representing Delta central senatorial district, he stormed the red chamber with suspected thugs who snatched the mace. To onlookers, the senator’s action-packed invasion could have evoked a familiar scene of a Hollywood all-time thriller.

The upper legislative chamber suspended Omo-Agege as a result of his utterances while announcing his opposition to the bid to change the sequence of the 2019 elections. He had said the move of his colleagues could be targetted at President Muhammadu Buhari.

The lawmaker has been trending on social media for his recent act but there’s more to the Urhobo lawmaker than his theatrical skills.

Here are five things to know about Ovie Omo-Agege.

SPENT HIS NYSC YEAR AT THE NIGERIAN POLICE FORCE

After bagging a law degree from the University of Benin, Omo-Agege spent the one-year mandatory National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) as an attorney at the directorate of criminal investigation and intelligence at the Nigerian Police Force in Ilorin, Kwara state. That was between 1987 and 1988.

He graduated from UNIBEN in 1985 and proceeded to the law school a year later. He bagged a master’s of law degree from Tulane University Law School, New Orleans in 2002. He has practised law both in Nigeria and the United States of America.

SON OF A JUDGE

James, the late father of the 54-year-old senator from Ughelli north, was a chief judge in Delta. He goes into history as the longest-serving chief judge in the history of the state, having spent five years in office. He was who sentenced the infamous armed robber, Lawrence Anini, Monday Osunbor and George Iyamu, a police officer, to death by firing squad in the 80s.

He died on August 18, 2016. In a tribute to his father, the suspended senator wrote: “Without a doubt, our father’s legacy is a most courageous, dignifying and glorious one. We are grateful for his life of absolute honour, dignity, and patriotism. His love for the rule of law and the judiciary is etched in history for all time. We can only celebrate his greatness.”

IBORI’S AIDE

In 2003, Omo-Agege was appointed an executive assistant by James Ibori, former governor of Delta state. The governor later appointed him as the commissioner for special duties. He also enjoyed a short spell as secretary to the state government.

A FORMER MEMBER OF LABOUR PARTY

Omo-Agege was the only senator elected on the platform of the Labour Party (LP) in the senate until he defected to the All Progressives Congress (APC) in March 2017.

Announcing his move to the ruling party, the lawmaker said he defected because of the internal crisis rocking the party.

Shortly before his suspension, Dino Melaye, senator representing Kogi west, taunted Omo-Agege saying: “When I was following the president, campaigning and working for him to become the president of this country, Ovie Omo-Agege was labouring in the Labour Party.”

BUHARI’S LOYALIST

The father of five and traditional chief is undoubtedly a loyalist of Buhari as he was suspended for his strong opinion in support of the president. This didn’t go down well with his colleagues, after which he was dragged to the committee on ethics, privileges and public petitions and ostracised from the hallowed chamber for 90 days.

He was a gubernatorial aspirant in Delta for many years.