By Peterside Rejoice, Abuja
The Senate has dismissed reports alleging a clash between the President of the Senate, Senator Godswill Akpabio, and the Senate Leader, Senator Opeyemi Bamidele, during an executive session held to deliberate on the chamber’s annual recess.
In a statement issued on Saturday by the Chairman, Senate Committee on Media and Publicity, Senator Yemi Adaramodu, the upper legislative chamber described the reports as false and misleading, insisting there is no crack within the leadership structure of the Senate.
“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 convened to deliberate whether the Senate should proceed on annual recess,” the statement read.
“These reports do not contain any iota of truth. In entirety, they misconstrue our 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 before approval or authorisation.”
Adaramodu explained that the Senate operates like every democratic parliament across the world, where bills, motions, and proposals are subjected to thorough scrutiny and deliberations.
“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 purely in the interest of over 230 million Nigerians,” he stated.
He noted that healthy debates within the chamber or committee rooms should not be misrepresented as disagreement or division among lawmakers.
“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,” the statement added.
The Senate has since proceeded on its annual recess and is expected to reconvene in September
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