By Aliyu Galadima, Abuja
Just one year into his leadership of the National Assembly as President of the Senate, Senator Godswill Obot Akpabio, appears to have run into trouble waters as reliable sources in the upper legislative chamber revealed an impeachment plot over alleged misrule and abuse of power.
Also another source who reliably listed some of the sins of the President of the Senate said, “Akpabio has amended the Senate Standing Orders twice for undemocratic reasons so as to perpetuate himself in office.
“When the majority of the Senate supported him to emerge as the President of the Senate; he did the unthinkable. He secretly inserted a new clause into Article 3 of the Orders. The new Clause (2) on Election of Presiding and other officers, he inserted states: ‘A Senator vying for the office of the President of the Senate and Deputy President of the Senate must have served at least one term of Four (4) years in the Senate as a Senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria”.
When asked isn’t that normal? The source fumed that the press no longer do indepth analysis and comparison of the Senate Standing Rules before and after Akpabio’s emergence. “The source further hinted that by this insertion, Akpabio has completely disenfranchised and blocked all the senators from his South-South geo-graphical zone in becoming the President of the Senate, in case of any change of leadership in the Senate because the party has kind of micro zoned the position to the South-south.
“Besides, the new insertion orchestrated by the President of the Senate also made it impossible for the APC to alter its zoning arrangement of South South for President of the Senate.
“It equally makes it impossible for the leader of the APC, the President, to replace him with any other senator from the South South where the party has zoned the topmost leadership position of the National Assembly to. With the new clause introduced by the President of the Senate , good or bad; performing or not performing; loyal or disloyal; committed or uncommitted, the APC leadership must stick to Akpabio till 2027.
“Also, the possibility of the party leadership substituting Senator Akpabio with any other senator from the South-South, like Senator Adams Oshiomhole, is dimmed”, the sources explained.
The sources said, Akpabio does things upside down, with so much audacity. One of pointed that “In a flagrant disregard of the Orders of the Senate, the Akpabio committed the supplementary budget to the Committee on Appropriation without allowing the Senate to look at the documents and deliberate and scrutinize the Supplementary Budget sent by President Tinubu.
“The scrutiny by the various Senate committees that usually follow budget proposals did not take place at all. This angered the Senators, seriously”.
It was further alleged that Akpabio got the Committee on Appropriation to allocate billions of naira worth of constituency projects to his Senatorial District alone, against the average of N690 million each, for him and his colleagues. This is seen by other senators as the height of greed and selfishness.
“The 10th Senate, under the leadership of Sen. Akpabio, has been unprecedentedly ineffective, with less bills to its credit in the whole one year.
“Most of the bills passed so far by the National Assembly are from the Executive and those that originated from the House of Representatives and concurred to by the Senate.
“In today’s Senate, there is no originality, no initiative, no grand idea, and no vibrancy. For the first time since 1999, the present House of Representatives has taken the shine off the Senate and perceptibly leading in terms of legislation and oversight mandate of the National Assembly. The senators are mostly dissatisfied, feeling mortified over the situation”, said the source.
“Unperturbed by the seriousness of the minimum wage impasse, President of the Senate insisted that the labour leaders should give the government two months to decide on a minimum wage for the workers. This inconsiderateness of Senator Akpabio angered the organized labor union and at the end of the meeting called out the workers on a total strike.
“Discomforted by the consequences of the poor leadership exhibited by Akpabio at the tripartite minimum wage negotiations meeting of May 31, 2024, President Bola Tinubu immediately ordered his removal as the leader of the meeting and replaced him with the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, SGF, Sen. George Akume.
“President Tinubu did not stop at that, he jettisoned all the decisions reached at the meeting and shifted its venue from National Assembly to the office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation,SGF.
Promptly, “the SGF proposed a one-week timeline for government to come up with an acceptable minimum wage and both the NLC and TUC agreed. ‘If President of the Senate had shown seriousness and sensitive enough with a reasonable timeline of one week as proposed by the SGF, the strike would have been averted”, Comrade Festus Osifo has said.
“He has fatally weakened the committee structure of the Senate by dealing directly with ministers, heads of parastatals, agencies and extra ministerial departments”, the source said.
Among various other accusations, Akpabio was also accused of ruling by coercion and intimidation. He doesn’t allow critical debate of any issue on the floor of the Senate, he must hush you and overrule the person. Is this how to run a supposed hallowed chamber, the source queried. Only time will tell if the plots will see the light of the day or punctured by Akpabio as many colleagues have described him as a good maneuverer.
Aljazirah Nigeria recalls that Senator Godswill Akpabio, following his emergence as President of the Senate one year ago pledged commitment of the 10th Senate to ensure purposeful leadership under his watch.
Besides, Akpabio continues to re-echo the aforementioned commitment with a view to strengthening democracy in Nigeria.
