Nigerians have continued to condemn the verbal attack on Senator Smart Adeyemi by Senator Oluremi Tinubu after the former lamented the threats posed by the growing insecurity in the country.

Adeyemi is the senator representing Kogi West Senatorial District while Oluremi Tinubu represents Lagos Central Senatorial District.

Both lawmakers are members of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).

The plenary session on insecurity last week which lasted for over an hour had lawmakers complaining about the insecurity in Nigeria and proffering possible solutions.

Adeyemi was one of the contributors to the debate during which he spoke passionately for over five minutes, describing the current state of insecurity in Nigeria as the worst so far.

But Tinubu seemed disgusted by Adeyemi’s comments.

“I’m a party man and I’m supporting APC but it has gotten to a point that as supporters we cannot keep quiet,” Adeyemi had said.

“This is the worst instability we are facing. In fact, this is worse than the civil war.”

While Adeyemi continued venting his anger at the “killing, maiming, insecurity in the country,” Tinubu who sat beside the senator interjected.

“Are you in PDP? Are you a wolf in sheep’s clothing?” Tinubu said, rebuking the lawmaker.

Adeyemi, however, ignored his colleague and fellow party member, stating that there were lots of misinterpretations of what was happening in the country. See Also Sahara Reporters Are You In The PDP, Wolf In Sheep's Clothing? – Remi Tinubu Tackles Senator Adeyemi For Complaining About Insecurity 0 Comments 5 Days Ago

When SaharaReporters reached out to Adeyemi for his reaction to what Tinubu said, he declined to comment on the issue.

Meanwhile, many Nigerians did not find the statement credited to Tinubu funny.

They lambasted her on social media platform Twitter, saying she is more concerned about the 2023 elections than talking about tackling the insecurity in the land.

However, this is not the first time the ordained pastor of the Redeemed Christian Church of God would be involved in a controversy since becoming a Senator in 2011.

2015: TAKING OVER DEPUTY SENATE PRESIDENT’S SEAT

In 2015, Tinubu raised a storm at the senate when she sat on the chair meant for Ike Ekweremadu, the then Deputy Senate President.

The former Lagos State First Lady, who wanted to second a motion on the approval of the Lagos state development policy operation loan, earned the rebuke of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) senators, when she stood up to speak while standing in the Deputy Senate President’s corner.

Naturally, this forced her to second the motion from another seat, complaining that her microphone was faulty.

She however returned to the seat of Ekweremadu, who was not present at plenary, after she had seconded the motion.

Tinubu sat giddily in the Deputy Senate President’s seat, intermittently conversing with Aliyu Ndume.

2016: FIGHT WITH DINO MELAYE

In July 2016, there was an altercation between Tinubu and Senator Dino Melaye from Kogi state which saw both lawmakers calling each other names and charging at each other.

According to reports, those who witnessed the incident, which occurred during a closed-door meeting held by the senators, said trouble started when Melaye urged the Senate to descend heavily on members who had offered to serve as prosecution witnesses in the ongoing forgery case against the then Senate President Bukola Saraki and his deputy, Ekweremadu.

“You should go and tell those who sent you that nobody, I said nobody, no matter who he is, can ever control this Senate,” Melaye was quoted as saying as he pointed at the affected senators, his face contorted in rage.

But when Tinubu was recognised to speak, she rose, and said, “I’m just wondering why whenever Senator Dino speaks in this chamber, he is always threatening people and behaving childishly and at times like a thug.

“I think he needs to know that every senator here represents their constituencies. And that there is no need to threaten anyone.

“We are seeking and working towards reconciliation, yet you are busy issuing threats.”

One of the sources said at this point, Melaye jumped up from his seat and charged towards Tinubu, saying, “Look this is not Bourdillon (referring to the famous Lagos residence of Mrs Tinubu’s politician husband). I will beat you up, ….. impregnate you and nothing will happen.”

Witnesses said as Melaye charged towards the Lagos senator, other senators, especially those from the South-West geopolitical zone, waded in and shielded Tinubu from attack, and then calmed her down.

2016: ALLEGED ATTEMPT TO SLAP ANOTHER SENATOR

Melaye in 2016 also alleged that Tinubu almost “slapped Senator Rafiu Ibrahim” and got away with it.

Ibrahim was elected to the Senate under the platform of the APC from Kwara South in March 2015.

“I know a former member of the National Assembly, who had to go to one of today’s cabinet members to report her, that the next time she was rude to him, he would damn the consequences and take her to the cleaners. I also know that Mark as former Senate President avoided her like a plague.

“Did anyone see how she charged Senator (Musiliu) Obanikoro when she objected to his nomination as minister? Instances abound and these are unbecoming incidences that should not be found in anyone’s character file. But that’s who she is. It will take a ‘real man’to brush aside such invective and pretend an encounter ever took place with her. That’s where Dino missed it. But Remi can be such a menace.

“The same woman almost slapped Senator Rafiu Ibrahim and nobody demanded an apology /response from her or the entire Senate. Why now? The same woman deliberately sat on the Deputy Senate President’s seat to cause uproar yet, nobody demanded an apology from her. Why now?” Melaye had said.

2019: THREATENED ‘intimacy gadget SENATOR’ WITH SUSPENSION

In July 2019, Tinubu had an open confrontation with another colleague of hers, Elisha Ishaku Abbo from Adamawa state.

Abbo, who was caught on camera assaulting a woman in an Abuja intimacy gadget shop, hadappeared before a Senate committee set up to investigate the incident.

The Adamawa senator said he had refused to allow journalists to interview him over the matter, and did not understand why he came in for the hearing to be “ambushed” by journalists.

Insisting that the hearing be done privately, Abbo had said “I am not addressing the camera, I am not addressing the press.”

Before being allowed to explain this, Tinubu told Abbo he was new in the Senate and could not tell the committee how to handle the hearing.

“You are just joining us. We have a procedure and we are also under law. What we are doing, we are doing as a legislature. You don’t come in here when we invite you, despite you being our colleague, you are on the other side now,” she had said.

“Everybody requires a fair hearing, what is going on with you affects us as a body. You don’t come in here and dictate to us the procedure we are supposed to adopt. You don’t dictate to us, because you undermine us by even trying to do that. You haven’t even listened to us, even if we are going beyond what you expect, you can stop us.

“Do you want us to protect you, or do you want us to defend you, or you want to be on your own? Do you realise that the Senate when we constitute this, whatever the law gives, we can also suspend you?”

Interrupting Tinubu with a protest, Abbo said the senator should not threaten him with suspension.

“Are you threatening me with suspension?” he asked.

“I am a senator like you, I won’t sit here and you threaten me with suspension. With all due respect, you cannot threaten me with suspension, I take exception, ma’am.”

…RCCG leader forced to fly Oyedepo’s aircraft

The Federal Government through the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority has grounded a private chopper belonging to Pastor Enoch Adeboye of the Redeemed Christian Church of God at the Lagos Airport, investigations by Sunday PUNCH, has revealed.

It was learnt that the aircraft, AgustaWestland AW139 chopper, with registration number 5N-EAA, was suspended from flying over two weeks ago, following the expiration of some of its papers and spare parts.

The suspension, officials said, would also allow the regulator to conduct vital safety checks on its safety-critical components, especially some spare parts that are due for replacement.

Adeboye had, last Saturday during a special meeting with all ordained ministers of the mission at the RCCG, Region 21, in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, called for drastic action against corrupt practices in all facets of Nigeria.

The RCCG leader, who flew a chopper to the venue, said he arrived late for the meeting because someone had requested a bribe from him to fly his chopper.

He said he had decided to embark on the trip via his chopper to avoid a possible gridlock on the busy Lagos-Ibadan Expressway.

The 79-year-old mathematician-turned-preacher said, “I don’t give excuses because I have discovered long ago that only failures give excuses. But you must pray for Nigeria.

“Something must be done about corruption in this nation. All I can say is that I am this late because somebody wanted a bribe. And you know if you are expecting a bribe from me, you have to wait forever.

“But the devil has failed. And the devil will continue to fail. I decided to come by helicopter so that there won’t be a traffic jam that would tie me down on the expressway because I know what the devil could do.

“Then, I ran into something else. But by the grace of God, we are here.”

Although Sunday PUNCH could not ascertain who requested the alleged bribe from the revered servant of God, investigations by the paper revealed that the cleric’s chopper was suspended from flying by the regulatory authority over safety issues.

Multiple aviation sources confirmed that Adeboye could not fly his chopper with registration number 5N-EAA to the Ibadan programme but had to fly another aircraft reportedly belonging to Bishop David Oyedepo of the Living Faith Church (Winners Chapel).

A top official of the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency, who is close to the operations of the two choppers belonging to the servants of God, said, “The team relating directly with Daddy G.O. should have told the man of God on time that his chopper had not been cleared by the NCAA and, as such, it couldn’t go on the Ibadan trip. They shouldn’t have waited till the last minute. The NCAA (aviation regulatory agency) that we have now is different from what it used to be. There is a new man in charge who always insists that things must be done properly as far as the safety of lives is concerned. The church’s protocol team should have told him that the NCAA has not cleared the aircraft and it may not clear it within a short time because certain procedure must be followed. As such, an alternative arrangement should have been made.”

The NAMA official, who chose to speak on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to speak on the matter, further said, “On that last Saturday morning, when it later became obvious that the jet was not cleared to fly, they had to make an alternative arrangement with Bishop Oyedepo’s chopper. They had to quickly begin that process by filing the flight plan, etc. It was Bishop’s aircraft that Pastor Adeboye later flew to the event. He could not use his own.”

A top official of Omni-Blu Aviation, the airline operating the chopper for Adeboye, confirmed the development.

The official, who chose to speak on condition of anonymity, said a letter from Italy-based Leonardo, the manufacturer of Adeboye’s AW 139 helicopter, requesting the NCAA to grant a time extension on some spare parts that are due for replacement came late.

The spare parts due for replacement have been ordered from the manufacturer but they have yet to be shipped into Nigeria because they are usually produced on demand, according to Omni-Blu Aviation.

As such, the NCAA could not immediately grant the requested extension. Instead, the regulatory agency requested that comprehensive safety checks be conducted on the aircraft in line with standard aviation safety practice.

He said, “The NCAA that we have now is different from what it used to be. It always insists on standard. We don’t want any disappointing situation for anybody, especially for a globally reputed servant of God like Daddy G.O. It appears the man of God was not properly briefed. But we thank God an alternative arrangement was made to rescue the situation. Safety is first and paramount. No life is worth toying with, how much more that of a servant of God like Daddy G.O. As an airline, we won’t compromise safety no matter the pressure.’’

The Omni-Blu official denied knowledge of any bribe request, either by the airline or aviation officials.

He, however, said it was not impossible that some people might have cashed in on the situation to demand a bribe.

“You know some people don’t fear God no matter what. They can even go to the extent of asking a servant of God for a bribe. So, it is not impossible. But on our part, I am not aware of such.”

As it stands, it is uncertain when Adeboye’s chopper will be allowed to fly.

However, findings revealed that NCAA had directed maintenance and safety checks to be conducted on the aircraft.

As such, the operator has secured a date for this at Aero’s maintenance hangar.

When contacted for comments, the Director-General, NCAA, Captain Musa Nuhu, confirmed that the regulatory agency had suspended flights on the aircraft for safety reasons.

According to him, the NCAA does not often deal directly with individuals or owners of aircraft but the operator.

In this case, he said the NCAA only had business with the operator of the aircraft, Omni-Blu Aviation.

Nuhu said, “There are safety-related issues that must be resolved before the aircraft will be approved for resumption of flights. Safety is the paramount consideration in all approvals given by the NCAA. No matter what, we must not sacrifice safety for flights; that is the whole idea.”

When contacted, the spokesperson for RCCG, Pastor Olaitan Olubiyi, said the matter was being resolved already.

On the bribery allegation, he said the church would not want to take issue with the aviation authorities on the matter.

Olubiyi said, “We will not want to take issue with the aviation authorities but I can assure you that an amicable solution is being found to the issue.”