Allow Akpabio, Barau To Work For Nigerians, CSO Urges Opponents

An umbrella body of all youth groups and middle-aged citizens Nigerians, Rising-Up for a United Nigeria (RUN), has appealed to critics of the senate president, Godswill Akpabio and his deputy, Senator Jibril Barau, to allow the duo to work for the country’s development.

RUN’s plea was prompted by widespread report at the weekend over alleged plot to impeach Akpabio.

At a press conference in Abuja yesterday, the group’s convener, Ambassador Solomon Adodo described the senate under Akpabio and Barau as truly stable and ideal for legislative and executive oversight.

Adodo said, “The leadership of the 10th Senate with Senators Godswill Akpabio and Jibrin Barau represents a watershed in the history of Nigeria’s legislative journey. Their synergy with the executives as well as experience with lawmaking and governance towards making Nigeria a great country should not be viewed with suspicions but applauded.”

The group described those calling the senate president a rubber stamp to the executive as jealous and ignorant politicians who are not happy with the cordial relationship between President Bola Tinubu and the leadership of the Senate, insisting that they must not be fighting to prove to Nigerians that there is separation of powers.

“Let us state categorically that the senate president and his deputy are not rubber stamps. The legislature must not be at cross-purpose with the executive. They must not be fighting the executive to portray separation of powers. The fact that the legislature and the executive are getting along very well is an indication that the president knows what he is doing and has been faithfully following the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria,” Adodo said.

He described President Tinubu as a very experienced democrat who understands perfectly the principle of separation of powers and will never jeopardise the autonomy of the senate under any circumstances, talk more of the current situation where Nigerians are all proud of his policies and leadership direction.

According to him, “Those peddling such rumour about the interference of the  executive with legislative functions are enemies of President Bola Tinubu who were defeated during the election of principal officers of the senate and are simply aggrieved at the cordial relationship he enjoys with the senate seeing that their sinister plot to hold the nation by the jugular and frustrate Mr. President failed woefully. Senator Godswill Akpabio has therefore done nothing wrong by giving maximum support to the President within the ambits of the law”, the statement added.