Stephen Ukandu, Umuahia
Former Senate President, Dr Bukola Saraki, has, cautioned the incumbent Senate President, Senator Godswill Akpabio, against misconstruing the call on him to ensure transparency in the investigation of the sexual harassment allegation against him by Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, as an attempt to remove a Senate President of Niger Delta extraction.
Saraki described as “cheap politics and trivialising of a serious issue” the claim by Akpabio that the calls for open process in handling the matter, was a veiled attempt to sack him.
Recall that Akpabio, had while receiving a delegation from the Niger Delta Ethnic Nationalities Youth Leaders Forum in Abuja, warned against any attempt to stop Niger Delta from taking its turn on the Senate Presidency.
The former Akwa Ibom State Governor who said that Niger Delta last held the position of Senate President, 46 years ago, vowed that the region would not take lightly, any attempt to displace it from the exalted office.
“The Senate President does not represent himself alone, he represents a region that is crucial to the economic survival of this country. So, we will not toy with this position, regardless of any opposition maneuvering,” Akpabio vowed.
Akpabio insisted that the recent suspension of Akpoti-Uduaghan, representing Kogi Central for violating Senate rules, was a unanimous decision of the Senate.
Akpabio had in an outburst, said that: “People who have no understanding of Senate procedures are the ones running commentaries on matters they know nothing about.”
He added: “You should seek the facts before making public statements. We advise members of the public to stop misquoting the rules of the Senate.”
Senator Akpabio likened commentators on the matter to “a herbalist trying to quote the Bible or someone unfamiliar with Islamic teachings attempting to interpret the Qur’an.”
But in a swift response, Saraki, in a statement by the Head of his media office in Abuja, Alhaji Yusuph Olaniyonu, cautioned Akpabio against politicizing the Natasha saga.
The former Senate President also cautioned the incumbent against alluding to him, insisting that his earlier position on the matter has not changed.
Saraki who took to his X handle wrote: “The attention of the Saraki Media Office has been drawn to the statement made by Akpabio while addressing the leaders of some “youth ethnic groups” on Friday that certain individuals from Kwara and Adamawa states want him removed because he is from the Niger Delta region.
“Ordinarily, Dr. Saraki would have ignored the statement as a sign of the times in which we now live.
“However, its underlying motive of politicising and trivialising a serious issue that threatens the integrity, credibility, and importance of the legislature is the reason we think we should not allow the Senate President to create a misleading impression of the issue at stake in the all-important institution that the National Assembly represents in our democracy.
“Dr Saraki in his comment on the Akpabio/Akpoti-Uduaghan crisis never called on the Senate President to resign or step aside. Rather, he urged the Senate President to be conscious of the fact that perception is reality and therefore, he should avoid treating the allegations by the Senator in a manner that will create the perception that the Senate as an institution is trying to cover up issues bordering on sexual harassment, gender discrimination, and abuse of office.
“Also, Dr Saraki made it clear that his intervention was neither about Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan that her claim was right or wrong. He stated that since the Senator has gone public with such serious allegations against the presiding officer, the image of the institution should be saved through an honest, sincere, open, transparent, and unbiased investigation.”
“Again, Dr. Saraki is of the firm belief that his suggestions are for the benefit of the legislative institution. So, he will repeat the same suggestion no matter where the Senate President comes from and whichever party he belongs to. It is not because the incumbent is a member of the APC, while the former Senate President is from the PDP or that the former is from the South-South zone while the latter is from the North Central zone. Far from it. It is disingenuous and crude to describe Dr Saraki’s comment along those primordial lines.”
