The Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, has described as malicious and untrue reports that there are plans to unseat him as a presiding officer of the 10th Senate.
He further noted that the Senate under his leadership is stable and harmonious and cannot be distracted by “the innuendo of the merchants of political tar brush by what appears to be a syndicated media attack from outside the precincts of the National Assembly.”
There were media reports on Saturday stating that plans were underway to unseat Akpabio as the president of the 10th Senate when the Senate reconvenes on September 26, 2023.
The report also noted that two prominent senators from the North West and other senators across the national assembly are already meeting and mapping out plans to carry out the daring move.
The reports also alleged that the senators believed that the Senate President was a rubber stamp for the presidency and may be unable to carry out his duty effectively.
In response to this, Senator Akpabio, in a statement by his Special Adviser (Media and Publicity) Hon Eseme Eyiboh, said the reports were “complete imaginations and sometimes laced with malice to achieve what senators are yet to comprehend.”
Noting that the Senate has since gone past the experience of the keenly contested leadership election, Eyiboh said the plot to drag in Senators who initially did not support the emergence of the present leadership into a conspiracy that does not exist was uncharitable to the senators and a needless umbrage.
Eyiboh said, “Senators are presently concluding their holidays in their constituencies and other places they have chosen to spend their time after the rigours of the inauguration and ministerial screening and other constructive engagements.
“All senators are also refreshing themselves ahead of the resumption, therefore, any suggestions that they are presently engaged in other subversive plots against the institution is rather uncharitable. It is mostly uncharitable for those senators who initially did not support the emergence of the leadership but who have all unanimously endorsed the Senator Akpabio-led leadership. Continuing to link these senators with needless conspiracy with barely disguised innuendo is rather unkind.
“We call on the media not to give in to the conspiratorial tales, and not to give damage to the reputations that they have built over time,” Eyiboh added.
(Punch)