The alleged effort to remove Godswill Akpabio, President of the 10th Senate, from office, has intensified.
According to individuals who talked with Vanguard, the problem extends beyond the senators from the north who are allegedly leading the effort to have Akpabio removed from office.
In response to the rumours on Saturday, the Senate stated that senators stand united behind its leadership and that rumours of impeachment proceedings are made up stories.
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According to rumours, some MPs intend to have Akpabio removed when the upper house meets again on September 26.
Those responsible for the development charged Akpabio with acting as President Bola Tinubu’s lap dog rather than representing the interests of senators and Nigerians as a whole.
They claimed that because of his proximity to the President, he was unable to give his coworkers his whole attention or exert himself fully for the benefit of the nation.
One of the justifications for Akpabio’s removal from office was the contentious video in which he claimed the Clerk of the National Assembly had credited senators’ accounts with a token to allow them to enjoy their holidays.
In an interview with Sunday Vanguard, a senator from the north, Ishaku Abbo, discussed the matter and disputed the claim that only senators from the north were seeking to unseat Akpabio.
Abbo claims that the majority of lawmakers, not just senators from the north, are angry.
With the way committee leadership was chosen, the legislator, who represents Adamawa North, claimed Akpabio sowed the seeds of conflict in the Senate.
He claimed that supporters of the former governor of Akwa Ibom were granted the chairmanship and vice chairmanship of important committees, which infuriated other senators.
The third person was charged with violating equality when he selected individuals to lead several panels referred to as “Category A Committees.”
Abbo said, “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.
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“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 per cent 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?’’
The Akpabio camp allegedly also wanted to pit the President against the North.
It was said that this was the reason for the claim that northern senators were the driving force behind the purported impeachment effort.
He further stated, “As a northern senator and an official of the Nothern Senators Forum, I make bold to say that this news is deliberately planted and syndicated by the ‘camp’ of Senator Akpabio just to set President Bola Tinubu against the North.
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“I call on Senator Akpabio to call his camp to order as the seed of discord and deep ethno-religious division they are sowing will not augur well for the country. Why the North? Why in Saudi Arabia?.”
He continued by saying that lawmakers are also dissatisfied with the way Akpabio handled ministerial clearance.
According to reports, he made decisions on some nominees’ security clearances without consulting senators.
Abbo described what transpired, claiming that none of the Senate committees dealt with the petitions based on which three nominations were not approved by the Senate.
He claims that Akpabio only informed the senators about the security report after coming back from his three-hour trip to Aso Rock.
He said, “Let me ask this question. During the ministerial screening where three minister-designates were refused clearance by the Senate, which committee looked into the petitions against them? Ethics and Privileges or Ad hoc Committee or Committee of the Whole? Was the report deliberated and debated during the plenary? Was there any voting either, aye or nay?
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“The Senate President just absconded during plenary and kept the Senate waiting in the chamber for over three hours while he was in the Villa -something that never happened in the history of the Senate. He came and read out the names of those cleared and ‘waved’ papers in his hand, claiming security reports from the NSA or DSS as the reason for not clearing some nominees. In my opinion, this is the lowest the Senate ever descended.
“Who gave the NSA or DSS DG or IGP the power to write to the Senate? What do you call that communication? Executive communication or reckless communication?
“Are we telling Nigerians that the Presidency and security agencies did not do diligent work before sending the list to the Senate or the Senate is used as cannon fodder for presidential aides’ power play?
“The Senate President knows what to do to have a peaceful Senate like Ahmed Lawal and not blackmail senators from the northern region and use newspaper reports to hoodwink the President.
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“President Bola Tinubu worked hard to make Senator Akpabio Senate President, but it’s only Senator Akpabio that can manage his colleagues well and not Tinubu managing them for him.”
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