…as APC, PDP lawmakers clash over seating arrangement
The immediate past Minority Leader of the Senate, Godswill Akpabio, has said composition of the Senate leadership must change for things to take proper shape.
Sen. Akpabio, who joined the ruling APC from the opposition PDP in August after resigning his position as minority leader, said he believed the Senate as presently constituted was not okay.
Akpabio said in a situation where one party had a clear majority in the red chamber while a minority party presided was unheard of in any democratic setting.
Both Senate President, Bukola Saraki, and his Deputy, Ike Ekweremadu, are now members of the PDP after Saraki’s defection to the opposition party in August.
Akpabio insisted during a press conference yesterday that the leadership must be reconstituted to reflect the strength of each political party.
The former Akwa Ibom State Governor added that his movement to the APC was in the best national interest and urged other senators to do same.
“There is need for us to restructure the Senate since we have people that defected to other places. We should have the seats for the APC senators, those in the PDP and APGA sitting according to the Senate rules on sitting arrangement.
“There is need for us to reconstitute the Senate as it is currently, including the leadership. We can’t have a situation where the minority will lead; you can’t have 80 and then 10 will lead. It is not done anywhere,” he said.
In 2019, he said, it would be very difficult for any party to penetrate the South-South due to the unprecedented projects executed by the current administration in the zone.
The senator added that, “Having moved from the PDP to the APC, I think it’s a jolly good movement. I’m happy and excited that I have direct access to be heard by the government. Whatever advice I’ll give will not be seen from an opposition point of view.
Meanwhile, there was disagreement among lawmakers on the floor of the Senate during Wednesday’s plenary in Abuja.
The dispute started when the Senate President, Dr Bukola Saraki, declined the request of former Senate Minority Leader, Senator Godswill Akpabio, who wanted to make a contribution to a matter raised by Senator Bassey Akpan from Akwa Ibom State.
Senator Akpan, who is a Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) lawmaker, had alleged that the All Progressives Congress (APC) was planning to disrupt the elections in the state.
Meanwhile, some senators were of the opinion that the Senate President was biased to the APC lawmaker in making such decision.
Senator Saraki, in his defence, explained that Senator Akpabio was seating in an unallocated seat and one without a microphone.
On his part, Senator Akpabio argued that he was allocated the seat by the Clerk.
When questioned, the Clerk responded that the former Senate Minority Leader insisted that he would sit on the seat.
The Senate President then urged Senator Akpabio to relocate to a seat which had a microphone.
The situation was eventually calmed as Senator Akpabio apologised for his action and the Senate President urged the clerk to allocate seats before next sitting.
