I Bear No Grudge Against Ndume, Abbo, Others

Senate President, Godswill Akpabio has said he bears no grudge against any of his colleagues over the recent happenings in the Senate.

The Special Adviser on Media and Publicity to the Senate President, Eseme Eyiboh, made this known on Tuesday in Abuja, hours after the drama that ensued during the plenary.

Ndume Saga

Recall that during Tuesday’s plenty, Senator Ali Ndume (APC, Borno South), raised a point of order to draw the Senate President’s attention to alleged procedural errors committed by him, which were yet to be corrected.

Specifically, Ndume referenced a motion on the need for re-opening of Nigeria-Niger border, which was moved by Senator Sumaila Kawu (NNPP, Kano South), which Akpabio allowed to be debated without first having the official title of the motion read as the normal procedure.

Ndume, relying on Order 51 of the Senate Standing Rules, requested that the Senate President should allow for the correction of any error made or observed during plenary.

The Senate President had hardly allowed Ndume to end his speech when he ruled him out of order, saying since he had ruled on issues raised, it could not be revisited.

Akpabio sustained this order, and this infuriated Ndume, who equally raised another point of order, specifically, Order 54, to seek correction of the perceived error.

Again, Akpabio ruled him out of order without allowing him to exhaust his line of argument. Following the development, Ndume picked up his documents and a few other belongings and stormed out of the Senate chamber.

Akpabio Harbours No ill Will Towards Colleagues

But in an interview on Arise News on Tuesday, Eyiboh said his principal harbours no ill will towards any of his colleagues, saying that the embers of the leadership election have been buried and replaced by the fraternal bond of nation-building he shares with his colleagues.

He also expressed shock at the assertions of the former Adamawa North Senator, Elisha Abbo that the Senate president influenced the judgment of the Court of Appeal that sacked him from the Senate.

Eyiboh described his claims as “delinquent, provocative and unbecoming of a distinguished senator.”

He said: “It is only a diseased and uninformed mind that will not believe that the outcome of any court proceeding is a function of the evaluation of facts and evidence within the province of the rule of law. “It is uncharitable for Senator Abbo to pour his frustrations on Senator Akpabio or anyone else, and his action betrays the bile he has for Senator Akpabio.

“Democracy is founded on the rule of law, so for anybody to accuse one of the strong agents of democracy and governance in the mould of Senator Akpabio, such an individual must be a monument of self-pity and his swansong a discordant escape from reality.”

“Senator Akpabio, for emphasis, has no ill will towards any of his distinguished colleagues, and as he has said in the past, the embers of the leadership election have been buried and replaced by the fraternal bond of nation-building he shares with the overwhelming majority of senators.”