The Senate has come out to deny stories of disunity in its camp, especially within the leadership.
The Senate recently revealed that the reported clash between the President of the Senate, Senator Godswill Akpabio and the Leader of the Senate, Senator Opeyemi Bamidele, APC, Ekiti Central, is a lie.
Speaking via a press statement personally signed by the Chairman, Senate Committee on Media and Public, Senator Yemi Adaramodu, APC, Ekiti South, said that there is no truth to the rumours circulating online.
According to him, the rumour peddlers should stop misconstruing time-tested practices and traditions in parliaments all over the world.
He stated that members of parliament have always been known to leverage the instruments of parliamentary debates; therefore, any back and forth in the Senate is very normal.
“Our attention has been drawn to diverse media reports claiming that President of the Senate, His Excellency Godswill Akpabio, GCON and Leader of the Senate, Senator Opeyemi Bamidele, CON 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,” it read.
Emphasising the fact that bills, motions and proposals are generally subjected to intense scrutiny by lawmakers globally, Senator Yemi Adaramodu stressed that debates on policy issues should not be misconstrued as disputes among senators.
He concluded by confirming that there is currently no crack in the ranks of the leadership of the Senate.
“The Senate, as our country’s highest law-making institution, is not different in any way. Like other parliaments, every bill, motion and proposal is always subjected to intense scrutiny in our Chamber almost on a daily basis. This entails robust debates to which members discuss and dissect every initiative before the Senate purely in the interest of over 230 million Nigerians.
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,” it added.
