The Senate has dismissed as false reports claiming that Senate President Godswill Akpabio and Senate Leader Opeyemi Bamidele were involved in a confrontation during a recent executive session.
In a statement released on Sunday, the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Yemi Adaramodu, debunked the claims, insisting the reports misrepresent the actual proceedings within the upper chamber.
Senate clarifies Akpabio, Bamidele
“Our attention has been drawn to diverse media reports claiming that the 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,” Adaramodu stated.
“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.”
Adaramodu emphasised that the Senate, like any other democratic legislature, encourages rigorous debate and thorough scrutiny of motions, bills, and policy proposals as a norm that should not be mistaken for internal strife.
“Whether in the chamber or committee room, debates on policy issues should not be misconstrued as altercations among members, nor do they suggest any crack in the ranks of the leadership,” he said.
He concluded by reiterating that the purpose of all Senate deliberations is to act in the collective interest of Nigeria’s over 230 million citizens.
