Senate denies alleged plot to remove Akpabio

The Senate said on Wednesday that reports suggesting an alleged plot to remove its President, Senator Godswill Akpabio, were unfounded.

Senate Leader, Senator Opeyemi Bamidele, dismissed the reports during plenary proceedings in Abuja.

“There was no attempt by any of our colleagues, nor any discussion around the possibility or otherwise of the removal of the Senate President from office”, he told the Senate when he rose to draw attention to the claims.

Bamidele emphasised the chamber’s unity and focus, noting, “We are totally united and have developed a zero-tolerance attitude toward distractions because there are urgent issues of public importance we need to attend to.

“Reports like that are calculated to create confusion.”

Former governor of Abia State, Senator Orji Uzor Kalu of (Abia-North), referenced the issue earlier on Tuesday while speaking with journalists at the National Assembly, denying that there had been such a contemplation by senators.

“Were you there? Even if there were attempts, we will never allow that to happen.

“We are one big family, and it’s not going to happen”, the former governor had responded to a question asked during the interview as to whether there was an anti-Akpabio plot.

However, he stated that any “family misunderstanding” would always be resolved and had not resulted in a consideration of removing the Senate President.

Bamidele added while speaking on the floor that the Red Chamber remained focused on its duties, less distractions.

Investigation by the Tribune Online showed that lawmakers regularly squabbled over issues ranging from project allocations, budget funding and equal treatment in terms of committee participation, bills’ progression and oversight involvement.

At some points, frequent executive sessions are called to iron out issues behind the curtains.

During such camera meetings, tempers can rise without control as senators try to ventilate issues agitating their minds.

Findings indicated that a resort to removing the presiding officer is rarely the first option of consideration on the table.

It was further gathered that most successful removal of presiding officers would require an executive backing and vote of two-thirds majority of all 109 senators.

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