The National Democratic Coalition (NADECO) in the United States of America (USA) has urged Senate President Senator Godswill Akpabio to step down due to alleged ineffective management of the upper chamber’s affairs.
The Coalition contended that Akpabio, who was installed as Senate President by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, has significantly diminished the autonomy and credibility of the legislature in Nigeria, exerting undue control over his colleagues on behalf of the executive.
Mr. Lloyd Ukwu, the Executive Director of NADECO USA, asserted in a statement released on Tuesday that Akpabio has demonstrated a blatant disregard for the Senate’s Standing Rules concerning procedural order, robust debates in plenary sessions, and meticulous examination of executive communications and bills.
In light of this, Ukwu implored Senators to promptly initiate impeachment proceedings against Akpabio “for making the upper chamber a laughing stock through naivety, immaturity and eagerness to please the executive, irrespective of the repercussions of his actions on the Senate as an institution and democratic governance in Nigeria.”
He said: “Akpabio is fond of keeping communications from the President which are supposed to be read during announcement time till the end of plenary, like he recently did when he announced the last three ministerial nominees by the President towards the tail end of plenary.
“Only recently, the Chief Whip of the Senate, Senator Mohammed Ali Ndume (APC – Borno South) and Senator Mohammed Ogoshi Onawo (SDP – Nasarawa South) openly accused Akpabio of not giving senators adequate opportunity to interrogate and scrutinize bills, especially money bills, and warned that history would judge him for approving executive requests and passing important legislations posthaste.” Ukwu insisted that should Akpabio fail to resign or Senators fail to impeach him, NADECO USA would have no option than to mobilize its members in the USA and Nigerians in diaspora for a mass action to ensure that he vacates office.
