Senators Tackle Akpabio Over Choice Of Senate Minority Leaders

There was an uproar in the Senate on Tuesday after the announcement of two minority leaders by Senate President Godswill Akpabio.

The seats of the Senate Minority Leader and Minority Whip became vacant after the Court of Appeal sacked the former occupants, Senator Simon Davou Mwadkwon (PDP, Plateau North) and Darlington Nwokocha (LP, Abia Central) respectively.

The PDP senators had, earlier, held an emergency key meeting on the replacement for the principal positions of Senate Minority Leader and Minority Whip. Senator Garba Maidoki (PDP, Bauchi), who briefed journalists after the closed-door meeting, had said the opposition lawmakers settled for the North Central geo-political zone to produce the Minority Leader.

During Tuesday’s plenary, Akpabio announced both Abba Moro (PDP, Benue South) as minority leader and Osita Ngwu (PDP, Enugu West) as minority whip.

The Senate President stated that the new minority leaders had the majority support of their colleagues in the opposition.

He added that 41 minority senators signed the document endorsing Moro as minority leader while 30 supported Ngwu for the minority whip seat. The announcement did not sit well with other parties in the minority caucus, especially the Labour Party.

Raising a point of order, Senator Okechukwu Ezea (LP, Enugu North), protested the absence of his party in the minority leadership, describing the arrangement as an injustice against other minority parties.

“How can the PDP take three minority leadership seats? This is unfair, unjust, and unacceptable,” he said.

The Senate after that degenerated into a rowdy session with LP lawmakers rejecting their party’s exclusion in the minority leadership.

Amid the uproar, Senator Tony Nwoyi (LP, Anambra North) accused Akpabio of picking minority leaders for the opposition parties.

“How can you be choosing minority leaders for us? Are we your slaves?” Nwoyi tackled the Senate President. Lawmakers from the ruling party made frantic efforts to pacify their colleagues from LP, some of whom approached Akpabio for consultation.

After about 15 minutes of rowdy session, the Senate President addressed the opposition lawmakers and dismissed the claim of his interfering in the affairs of the opposition.

Akpabio said he only announced the names sent to him by the opposition caucus and that it would be unfair not to respect the voice of the majority.

He said, “All we need to produce a leader is a simple majority. What’s the reason for not agreeing with the position of the majority?

“41 minority senators signed for Abah Moro and 30 signed for Osita Ngwu. They have the majority. It will be unfair for me not to announce them after getting a majority of support. My job is not to work with individual opinion but with the majority of positions”.