Taiwo Popoola
Former Senate President, Bukola Saraki has slammed the incumbent Senate President, Godswill Akpabio for saying he (Saraki) wants a Niger Delta person removed from the office of the Senate President.
Saraki said that the earlier call he made to Akpabio to ensure that transparent and open process was instituted to investigate the accusation levelled against him by one of his colleagues, Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, has been misinterpreted to mean an attempt to remove him (Akpabio).
Saraki made his points clearer in a statement signed by the head of his media office, Yusuph Olaniyonu.
The former national assembly leader urged the incumbent Senate President to read his press statement dated March 1st, 2025, very well to understand that there was nowhere he suggested the resignation of the Senate President.
Addressing some youth ethnic groups on Friday, Akpabio had claimed that certain individuals from Kwara and Adamawa States want him removed because he is from the Niger Delta region.
Saraki saw the remark as a way of politicising and trivialising a serious issue that threatens the integrity, credibility, and importance of the legislature, accusing the Senate President of creating a misleading impression of the issue at stake.
“Dr. Saraki in his last comment on the Akpabio-Natasha Akpoti Uduaghan crisis never called on the Senate President to resign or step aside,” the statement clarified.
He added: “rather, he urged the Senate President to be conscious of the fact that perception is reality and therefore he should avoid treating the allegations by the Senator in a manner that will create the perception that the Senate as an institution is trying to cover up issues bothering on sexual harassment, gender discrimination, and abuse of office.
“Also, Dr. Saraki made it clear that his intervention was neither about Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan nor whether her claim was right or not. He stated that since the Senator has gone public with such serious allegations against the presiding officer, the image of the institution should be saved through an honest, sincere, open, transparent, and unbiased investigation.
“In that press statement, he also pointed out that there are already existing processes recommended in the Constitution, laws of the land, Senate rules, conventions, and precedents to be followed in carrying out such investigation.
“Again, Dr. Saraki is of the firm belief that his suggestions are for the benefit of the legislative institution. So, he will repeat the same suggestion no matter where the Senate President comes from and whichever party he belongs to.
“It is not because the incumbent is a member of the APC, that the former Senate President is from the PDP or that the former is from the South-South zone while the latter is from the North Central zone. Far from it. It is disingenuous and crude to describe Dr. Saraki’s comment along those primordial lines.
“This issue is not one in which Akpabio should exploit ethnic sentiments, political division, or regional proclivity. This will neither be in his interest nor that of the institution over which he is presiding. He should face the reality on the ground and do what is right.
“The former Senate President believes that when a sensitive matter suggesting sexual harassment, gender discrimination, and mistreatment of women comes up anywhere, it evokes the pains that thousands of women across the nooks and crannies of our society experience daily. Thus, when it is raised in a place like the legislative institution, it is an opportunity for us to handle it with utmost openness and transparency to ensure that justice is not only done but glaringly seen to be done.
“Once again, Dr. Saraki stands by and maintains his earlier suggestion to Akpabio and the Senate leadership on the allegations raised by the Senator from Kogi State.
“An open, transparent, and honest investigation of the allegations is still needed to ensure that the Senate is not cast in the image of an institution that is tolerant of sexual harassment, gender bias, victimisation and mistreatment of women, abuse of office, and enthronement of the culture of silence.
“By having such an investigation, the general public and the international community will have more confidence in our legislative institution.
“People like Dr. Saraki have made huge sacrifices in defending the integrity of the legislative institution and will not desist in speaking up for the right thing to be done. May God bless our institutions and our country”.
