A former National Publicity Secretary of the People’s Democratic Party, Kola Ologbondiyan, has described the vote of confidence passed on Senate President Godswill Akpabio as “worrisome”.
Ologbodiyan noted that Akpabio has had nearly four votes passed on him in less than two years.He stated this on Thursday evening when he appeared on Channels Television Politics Today programme.
the Senate during a plenary session earlier on Thursday, passed a unanimous vote of confidence on the Senate President, following a motion moved by Senate Leader, Opeyemi Bamidele (Ekiti Central) and seconded by Deputy Minority Leader, Olarere Oyewumi (Osun West).
The vote came 48 hours after suspended Kogi Central Senator, Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, addressed the Inter-Parliamentary Union in New York, where she claimed she was suspended over her sexual harassment allegations against Akpabio.Addressing the Senate vote, Ologbodiyan stated that a vote of confidence was usually passed in the case of a crisis to show support for the presiding officer, adding that the move showed that there was no peace in the red chamber.
“On the issue of sexual harassment and vote of confidence, I think Senator Godswill Akpabio, the Senate President, will be the first President of the Senate that will have sequentially close to three or four votes of confidence in a space of less than two years, and I think that should be worrisome to himself, and to the Senate as an institution.
“Because the concept of vote of confidence, if you understudy it, it shows that there is crisis, and the presiding officer needs to be protected or needs to be reassured that the floor is with him. That is why you talk about the vote of confidence.“So I think that the fact that vote of confidence has become a recurrent decimal in this particular Senate shows that there is no peace in the Senate. And if there is peace in the Senate, then it means that it could be a peace of the graveyard,” he said.The former PDP spokesperson also addressed the passing of the Tax Reform bills for a second reading by the Senate, adding that it was a welcome development, adding that if well processed, could improve the electoral system.
“If it’s well processed, it could be an improvement on the electoral system. However, since the bills are going to go through public hearings and Nigerians will have the opportunity to review, study and make sure that it is not in favour of any group or persons or party, it is a welcome development.“So we will all wait until when it goes to the public hearing, and Nigerians will have the opportunity to examine that. Until that is done, I don’t think it requires a lot of comments,” he stated.
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