Godswill Akpabio, Senate President, is accused by the National Democratic Coalition of America of undermining the independence of the senate.

Akpabio bears no ill-will against his colleagues, says aide

The organization disapproved of the way the former governor of Akwa Ibom State handled the business of the upper chamber.

The Coalition asserted that Akpabio had completely subordinated his colleagues under the presidency and undermined the independence and integrity of the legislature in Nigeria. Akpabio was installed as the Senate President by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

The Executive Director of NADECO USA, Lloyd Ukwu, in a statement issued on Tuesday, accused Akpabio of showing absolute disdain for the Standing Rules of the Senate as regards the order of proceedings, vibrant debates during plenary and thorough scrutiny of executive communications and bills.

Ukwu urged senators to launch impeachment proceedings against Akpabio immediately “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.”

“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,” he said.

Ukwu insisted that should Akpabio fail to resign or Senators fail to impeach him, NADECO USA would have no option but to mobilize its members in the USA and Nigerians in the diaspora for mass action to ensure that he vacates office.

According to NADECO USA, Akpabio is eroding legislative independence.

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