Following widespread rumour peddled over the weekend insinuating that there are plans to impeach Senator Godswill Akpabio, the President of the 10th Senate, Rising-Up for a United Nigeria (RUN), the umbrella body of all youth groups and middle-aged citizens in Nigeria has come forward to assure Nigerians that the Senate President and his Deputy are the best thing that has happened to Nigeria’s democracy in recent times.
Addressing journalists at a Press Conference in Abuja, the Convener of the group, Ambassador Solomon Adodo, described the Senate under Akpabio and Barau as truly stable and convenient for legislative and executive oversight.
The statement read in part, “the leadership of the 10th Senate with Senators Godswill Akpabio and Jibrin Barau represents a watershed in the history of Nigeria’s legislative journey. Their synergy with the executives as well as experience with lawmaking and governance towards making Nigeria a great country should not be viewed with suspicions but applauded”.
The group described those calling the Senate President a rubber stamp to the executives as jealous and ignorant politicians who are not happy with the cordial relationship between President
Bola Ahmed Tinubu and the leadership of the Senate, insisting that they must not be fighting to prove to Nigerians that there is separation of powers.
“Let us state categorically that the Senate President and his Deputy are not rubber stamps. The legislature must not be at cross-purpose with the executive. They must not be fighting the Executive to portray separation of powers. The fact that the legislature and the executive are getting along very well is an indication that the President knows what he is doing and has been faithfully following the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria,” the statement added.
The group described President Tinubu, as a very experienced democrat who understands perfectly the principle of separation of powers and will never jeopardise the autonomy of the Senate under any circumstances, talk more of the current situation where Nigerians are all proud of his policies and leadership direction.
According to the statement “those peddling such rumour about the interference of the executive with legislative functions are enemies of President Bola Tinubu who were defeated during the election of principal officers of the Senate and are simply aggrieved at the cordial relationship he enjoys with the Senate seeing that their sinister plot to hold the nation by the jugular and frustrate Mr. President failed woefully. Senator Godswill Akpabio has therefore done nothing wrong by giving maximum support to the President within the ambits of the law”, the statement added.
The rights group further extolled the virtues of Senator Barau Jibin whose bravely and legislative prowess has brought calm to the troubled sections of the North, adding that, as a dogged political heavyweight, “there is no way Senator Barau Jibrin would have remained silent if Senator Akpabio was going in the wrong direction without correcting him as a true patriot”.
RUN concluded by urging those plotting to take over the leadership of the Senate and the country at large in 2027 to partner with the President “towards building a country based on the renewed hope agenda, rather than being clogs in the wheel of progress to his administration and the high expectations Nigerians have of this adminstration”