Akpabio Blows Hot Wants Saraki, Ekweremadu To Step Down

Erstwhile Senate Minority Leader, Senator Godswill Akpabio has called on Senate President Bukola Saraki and his deputy, Senator Ike Ekweremadu to step down from their positions bringing to question the recent resolve of the senators to keep the peace in the Senate.

Akpabio spoke at a press conference in the National Assembly following a shouting match between senators that was triggered after Saraki refused to allow him speak because he was not speaking from his assigned seat.

Akpabio at the press conference urged the duo of Saraki and Ekweremadu who belong to the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP to step down on the claim that the minority cannot preside over the majority.

The development was surprising as the senators had on resumption penultimate Tuesday resolved not to raise issues about Saraki resigning.

After the Senate went on its last recess there were clamours for Saraki’s resignation after he defected from the All Progressives Congress, APC to the PDP.

National chairman of the party, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole had championed the cause as he made repeated plots with senators and the erstwhile director-general of the Department of State Services, DSS, Lawal Daura to get APC senators to form a session to remove Saraki.

Calling on Saraki to step down on Tuesday, Akpabio said:

“I did not just move like that, I was a (Minority) Leader in the Senate. I resigned my position in order to show that, yes, I meant business. Let others who also have positions in the Senate who wish to also cross carpet from one political party to another also resign their positions and take a cue from what Godswill Akpabio did.

“There is the need for us to restructure the Senate. Behind where I sat today, my very good friend, distinguished Senator Shittu; it was after the little noise in the Senate that he told me that he was now in the PDP and I said ‘why are you sitting here?’ Don’t you think there is the need for us to restructure the Senate? PDP will sit on a side, APGA will sit where they are supposed to, and the ruling party which still forms the majority will still sit where they are supposed to sit.

“The leadership should be restructured in a way that the majority can have their way and the minority will have their say. That is the practice all over modern democracies. You cannot have a political party with 10 members, another with 80 members, and the 10 members will now produce the leadership. Does it happen anywhere in the world? Nigeria is not different. We are running a democracy. That is what I meant when I said I would speak when the Senate is well restructured and reconstituted.”

“I moved in national interest. I saw a kind of slight towards disorder, where many of my colleagues saw defection as a weapon against the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari. I don’t believe that we should bring a government into being without supporting that government to succeed. If the administration slides and Nigeria slides into anarchy, it is our children that will suffer. I moved to stabilise the polity.

“I moved from PDP to APC, to make sure that this government works before election. It should not be all about election, it should be first about Nigeria. Let others also move in national interest.”

 And For More Nigerian News Visit GWG.NG