Premium News
NO RIFT BETWEEN SENATE PRESIDENT, SENATE LEADER – SPOKESMAN
The Senate has downplayed rumours of a crack within its leadership ranks.
The upper legislative chamber said there is no rift between Senate President Godswill Akpabio and Senate Leader, Opeyemi Bamidele as widely reported.
Reports had claimed that Akpabio and Bamidele clashed during an executive session.
Reacting, Yemi Adaramodu, the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Media and Public Affairs, said the reports are false.
Adaramodu said debates should not be misinterpreted as a clash.
In a statement he signed on Sunday, the Senate spokesman said: “Our attention has been drawn to diverse media reports claiming that president of the Senate, His Excellency Godswill Akpabio, and leader of the Senate, Senator Opeyemi Bamidele, clashed during an executive session recently convened to deliberate whether the Senate should proceed on annual recess.
“The reports do not contain any iota of truth. In entirety, they misconstrue time-tested practices and traditions in the parliament worldwide, where members, regardless of their political leanings, leverage the instruments of parliamentary debates, questions or interpellations to discuss every initiative decisively and eclectically before approval or authorisation.
“Whether in the chamber or committee room, debates on policy issues should not be misconstrued as altercations among members, neither do they suggest any crack in the rank of the leadership.”
Adaramodu reiterated that deliberations in parliament are aimed at ensuring that all actions taken are in the interest of over 230 million Nigerians.
