The Nigerian Senate has dismissed media reports alleging a clash between Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, and Senate Leader, Opeyemi Bamidele, during a recent executive session.
The clarification was made by the Chairman, Senate Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Yemi Adaramodu, who described the reports as misleading and unfounded.
According to Adaramodu, the media misinterpreted normal legislative deliberations as signs of internal conflict.
“Our attention has been drawn to diverse media reports claiming that President of the Senate, 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.
“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 stated.
He emphasized that robust debate is an essential element of parliamentary democracy and should not be mistaken for disunity among lawmakers.
“The Senate, as our country’s highest law-making institution, is not different in any way. Like other parliaments, every bill, motion and proposal is always subjected to intense scrutiny in our Chamber almost on a daily basis.
‘This entails robust debates to which members discuss and dissect every initiative before the Senate purely in the interest of over 230 million Nigerians,” he added.
Adaramodu further noted that both plenary and committee discussions are policy-driven and not personal confrontations.
“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 concluded.
