The senate has denied reports suggesting that Senate President Godswill Akpabio and Opeyemi Bamidele, senate leader, clashed during a recent executive session.
In a statement on Sunday, Yemi Adaramodu, chairman of the senate committee on media and public affairs, said the reports were false and misrepresented the workings of the upper legislative chamber.
“Our attention has been drawn to diverse media reports claiming that president of the Senate, His Excellency Godswill Akpabio, and leader of the Senate, Senator Opeyemi Bamidele, clashed during an executive session recently convened to deliberate whether the Senate should proceed on annual recess,” Adaramodu said.
“The reports do not contain any iota of truth. In entirety, they misconstrue time-tested practices and traditions in the parliament worldwide, where members, regardless of their political leanings, leverage the instruments of parliamentary debates, questions or interpellations to discuss every initiative decisively and eclectically before approval or authorisation.”
He explained that, like every other legislature, the Nigerian senate subjects every proposal, bill, and motion to intense scrutiny and robust debate in the chamber.
“Whether in the chamber or committee room, debates on policy issues should not be misconstrued as altercations among members, neither do they suggest any crack in the rank of the leadership,” he said.
He reiterated that deliberations in parliament are aimed at ensuring that all actions taken are in the interest of the over 230 million Nigerians.
