Akpabio: I discouraged PDP senators interested in senate president’s seat

Godswill Akpabio, minority leader of the senate, says the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) could have produced the senate president if lawmakers elected on the party’s platform were greedy.

Speaking at a special session to mark the second anniversary of the 8th senate, Akpabio explained how a PDP senator suggested that the party should nominate a candidate for the number one position in the red chamber.

Akpabio said he rejected the idea of his collegaue. He said the achievements of the upper legislative chamber in two years have shown that not producing the senate president was a good decision.

“I must congratulate my family, the PDP family for not showing any greed. If we had shown greed on that day, we could have produced the senate president,” Akpabio said.

“I recall when one of you came to me and said, ‘Look at the chamber – we trippled the APC members, let us nominate somebody for the office of the senate president’ and I said ‘No, let’s not do that’… the APC had come with a mantra of change and if we produce the senate president, they will turn all the blame of us if things go wrong, that they wanted to do change but look at this people.

“Two years down the line, you can see that we are right for not going for the office of the senate president.”

Earlier, Ahmed Lawan, majority leader of the senate, said the legislature is the most misunderstood arm of government.

Lawan emphaised on the need to enlighten citizens on the functions of the legislature.

“The legislature is the misunderstood arm of government we need to do much more to make our citizens understand what we are supposed to do. Sometimes, legislators are judged based on the roads they have constructed, what we are supposed to do is what we do here is that we legislate, appropriate,” he said.

“We are what we do and we are what we don’t do, not what someone else says we are, I believe this is a task that we must continue to do, no matter how much we do here, if someone remains uninformed, the tendency is for that person to write them off. I believe that this 8th senate has come a long way having united himself.”