The lawmaker representing Adamawa North Senatorial District, Senator Ishaku Abbo, has accused the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, along with his associates of spreading a story about plans to impeach Akpabio.
Abbo alleged that the rumour was spread by the Senate President to create a wedge between President Asiwaju Bola Tinubu and northern politicians.
Akpabio has strongly denied allegations of an impending impeachment against him. He labelled these reports as both malicious and untrue.
There were media reports on Saturday of plans to unseat Akpabio as the president of the 10th Senate when the Senate reconvenes on September 26, 2023.
He said: “I woke up today to find over 10 mainstream Nigerian newspapers all carrying news of a plan to impeach Senator Akpabio by senators from Northern Nigeria. The Whistler Newspaper even went on to name Senator Abdulaziz Yari, Senator Aminu Tambuwal, and Senator Ogoshi Onawo, among others, as the senators behind the move.”
“As a Northern senator and an official of the Northern Senators Forum, I boldly affirm that this news is intentionally disseminated and propagated by the ‘camp’ of Senator Akpabio solely to pit President Bola Tinubu against the North. I call on Senator Akpabio to rein in his camp, as the seeds of discord and deep ethno-religious division they are sowing will not bode well for the country. Why the North? Why in Saudi Arabia?”
“If Akpabio and his camp wanted a united Senate, much like Ahmed Lawan, they would have known exactly what to do during Senate Standing Committees allocation and supplementary budget resources allocation. But the camp of the SP continued to treat the senate as a conquered territory where the winner walks away with the spoils of war. A classic case of the winner takes all.”
“How do you justify a situation where out of Category A Committees, only two were granted to his perceived rivals? How will you explain a senate where 83.1% of those appointed Chairmen of Category A Committees also serve as Vice Chairmen of Category A?
“How do you explain a third-term Senator being denied the Chairmanship of a Committee? How do you justify the leadership of the Senate, all being Vice Chairmen of Category A Committees? You cannot treat us as conquered people and then return to manipulate us with planted and paid newspaper reports to set us against the President.”
Despite debunking any plans to impeach Akpabio, the Adamawa senator said the Red Chamber wasn’t being well managed by the Senate President.
“In my opinion, this is the lowest the Senate has ever descended. Who granted NSA, DSS DG, or IGP the authority to correspond with the Senate? What kind of communication is that? Executive communication or reckless communication?
“Are we telling Nigerians that the Presidency and the Security agencies did not conduct due diligence before sending the list to the Senate, or is the Senate being used as a pawn in the power play of Presidential aides?”
“President Bola Tinubu worked hard to make Senator Akpabio the Senate President, but it is only Senator Akpabio who can effectively manage his colleagues, not Tinubu managing them on his behalf.”
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