The North-East Chapter of the Coalition of Northern Groups (CNG), said it has observed with shock, that a ranking senator, Michael Opeyemi Bamidele, allegedly stooped so low to profile northern senators and by implication, the northern people for planning to stage what he described as “a civilian coup” against the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio.
CNG, in a statement by its Zonal Coordinator, Isah Abubakar Waziri in Abuja on Friday, said Senator Bamidele descended further to portray northerners as unreliable who are hell-bent on removing Akpabio as the President of the 10th Senate.
It said that it is imperative to educate Bamidele that the North he is insulting gave the highest and most decisive number of votes to the incumbent President Bola Tinubu just as the northern senators who constitute the majority facilitated the emergence of Akpabio as the Senate President.
“For the avoidance of any doubt, it is important to unravel this dangerous rhetoric woven around our differences by a senator through provoking sectional sentimental calculation over and above the priority of collective and cohesive struggle to enshrine accountability and transparency in the Senate.
“Let it be vivid to Bamidele that the Northern lawmakers always make robust legislative engagements irrespective of who is superintending the National Assembly which is why for example, Abdulmumini Jibrin challenged Rt. Hon. Yakubu Dogara and Sen. Ali Ndume confronted Sen. Bukola Saraki with allegations, yet, it was only the issues that were dissected and debated,” it said.
The CNG said that it is necessary to deploy every plausible means to disabuse the ilk of Bamidele from such narrow political conjecture that can only gain currency in a situation that stifles democratic etiquette.
It added that it is clear, that Bamidele, as a majority leader of the senate, has some skeletons in his cupboard with the alleged budget padding that was why he resorted to ethnic-cum-regional chauvinism while commenting on the issue that he was talking as a “southerner”; reclining to his parochial and primordial enclave.
The coalition of Northern Groups therefore said it has lost confidence in the current leadership of the senate, adding that a serving senator, during the plenary session of the senate, Senator Jarigbe Jarigbe, disclosed that some senators were given a staggering 500 million naira while others were allocated 200 million naira in the 2024 Budget and described it as brazen abuse of office.
It also noted that a civil society organization, BudgIT, confirmed Senator Abdul Ningi’s allegations that N3.7trn could not be accounted for in the 2024 appropriation which Bamidele is depriving Nigerians from knowing the truth, or interrogating facts and figures.
“These accusations and blackmail to the North do not come as a surprise to us as Bamidele is trying to position himself as a parochial and ethnic chauvinist who bluntly described himself as a ‘southerner’ while making his unsavory remarks.
“The NE Chapter of CNG, however, noted an embarrassing alliance from some northern senators, specifically Senator Ahmad Lawan and Senator Aminu Tambuwal as alluded to by Bamidele while he was disparaging their people, region and heritage,” it said.
The group then called on all northerners to be wary of people they elect to represent their interest and that of their region as such people would remain subservient to preserve their hidden fault to the detriment of public interest.
It further said the North should firmly stand by Senator Ningi as he is not just a true representative of his constituents, but also one who stands to protect the interests of the North and Nigeria as a whole, saying that he deserves their collective support.
The CNG described Bamidele’s weighty allegations as not only dangerous to the peace and security of Nigeria but also revealed his penchant for hatred for the North and complete disdain for democratic transparency and accountability.
It therefore, strongly condemned Senator Bamidele’s ‘jingoistic and abhorrent utterances’ that are capable of plummeting the remnant of the battered reputation of the Red Chamber.
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