A group of aggrieved senators may be planning to impeach Senate President Godswill Akpabio, sources revealed.
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Reports had suggested that northern senators were leading the move, however, insiders believe the situation is more complicated.
The Senate dismissed the impeachment reports as “imaginative composition,” saying that senators stand united behind their leaders and requesting time to focus on their national work.
The senators who appear to be plotting against Akpabio have accused him of favouring colleagues loyal to him in his distribution of top committee leadership roles, which they claim has stirred up unrest.
They also allege that the Senate President has been overly close to President Bola Tinubu to the detriment of sebnators and Nigerians. Claims that his camp was intending to set the President against the North were also cited in reports.
The lawmaker representing AdamawaNorth Sen Ishaku Abbo, who spoke on behalf of his aggrieved colleagues in a chat with Sunday Vanguard dismissed the report as the handiwork of the Senate President’s camp.
He emphasized that contrary to the reports that Akpabio only ‘’offended’’ northern senators, most legislators are upset, stressing that Akpabio planted a seed of discord in the Senate with the manner committees’ leadership was chosen.
According to Sen. Abbo, loyalists of the Senate President were given the chairmanship and vice chairmanship of top committees, a situation that left other senators aggrieved.
“If Akpabio and his camp wanted a united Senate just like Ahmed Lawal, they could have known exactly what to do during Senate Standing Committees allocation and supplementary budget resources allocation”.
“But the camp of the Senate President continued to treat the Senate as a conquered territory where the winner goes home with the spoils of war. A classical example of a winner-takes-all.
“How do you explain a situation where out of Category A Committees, only two went to his perceived rivals? How will you explain a Senate where 83.1 percent of those made Chairmen of Category A Committees are also Vice Chairmen of Category A? How do you explain a third time a senator being denied the chairmanship of a committee? How do you explain that the leadership of the Senate are all vice chairmen of Category A Committees?’’, he queried.
However, the Senate President Godswill Akpabio has dismissed the reports of impeachment move as uncharitable and that attention shouldn’t be given to the aggrieved senators.
Akpabio’s reaction was contained in a statement by his Special Adviser, Media and Publicity, Eseme Eyiboh, saying that the impeachment move reports were “laced with malice to achieve what senators are yet to comprehend.”
“All senators are also refreshing themselves ahead of the resumption, therefore, any suggestion that they are presently engaged in other subversive plots against the institution is rather uncharitable. It is mostly uncharitable for those senators who initially did not support the emergence of the leadership but who have all unanimously endorsed the Senator Akpabio-led leadership. Continuing to link these senators with needless conspiracy with barely disguised innuendo is rather unkind.
“We call on the media not to give in to the conspiratorial tales, and not to damage the reputations that they have built over time”, he said.
Also speaking on the matter, the Senate, in a statement by the Chairman, Committee on Media and Publicity, Yemi Adaramodu, APC, Ekiti South, cautioned those it described as fifth columnists operating outside the Senate.
“Our attention has just been drawn to syndicated satanic verses in a section of the media, of purported and illusory plots of leadership change in the Senate.
“The Nigerian Senate is one united and fraternal family. This imaginative composition is in the realm of the fake and fallacious story of 100m per legislator. It’s apt to note that the 10th Senate, under the leadership of Senator Godswill Akpabio has carried out its legislative and constitutional duties diligently.
“Within less than 60 legislative days, the Senate has passed life-enhancing bills and motions. It has screened and confirmed Service Chiefs and ministers, among others, apart from essential oversight functions.
“We urge the fifth columnists, who operate undoubtedly outside the Senate, desperate to cause disharmony through media stunts and thus clipping the wings of Nigeria’s democracy, to take caution.
“The Senate should be allowed fresh air to settle down for its national assignments so that the Nigerian project can move forward. The media too, should be discerning not to be used as a hand tool to these retailers of fake and bad news”, he said.
It is worth noting that Akpabio was elected as the ninth Senate President since 1999, around three months ago.
This was after a fiercely contested election in which he defeated his closest opponent, Sen Abdulaziz Yari, by obtaining 63 votes against Yari’s 46 votes.
Out of the eight previous Senate Presidents, two were impeached, one resigned under pressure, and others concluded their tenures amidst disagreements.
The impeached Senate Presidents were Sen Evans Enwerem and Sen Chuba Okadigbo, while Sen Adolfus Wabara resigned amidst controversy. The other past Senate Presidents include Senator Anyim Pius Anyim, Sen Ken Nnamani, Sen David Mark, Sen Bukola Saraki and Sen Ahmed Lawan.
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