Godswill Akpabio, the president of the Senate, has received a warning from seasoned statesman and head of the Southern and Middlebelt Leaders Forum (SMBLF), Chief Edwin Clark, about the dangers of letting powerful politicians seize control of local and state governments.
According to the former federal minister, several influential politicians have been getting back together for the same reason.
“Where the debates will be held having regard to the powers of the State Governors and some mischievous, ambitious, and “powerful” politicians over their State Houses of Assembly,” Clark wrote in a statement addressed to Akpabio. She said the Senate president should work to stop the hijacking of the public debates in the various State Houses of Assembly.
“Mr. Senate President, rumors are circulating in the community that this hostile, anti-democratic faction within the NASS is getting together and intends to seize control of their various State courts and local administrations,” he continued.
“This group of people has won the congresses of their political parties in their respective States, and they are now waiting to take over the party structures through dubious means because the NASS has the authority to amend the Constitution as provided. They want State accounts to be removed without debate, as provided for in Section 9 of the 1999 Constitution, as quoted above.
“Please, this nation is failing and split. Now is the time for the government’s various branches to carry out their legal-mandated duties. Let’s us be wary of the ides of march.”
According to Clark, there is evidence of an anti-democratic organization that does not want honorable members to adhere to due process, which is also the reason “two different Bills on the same subject have been submitted.”
“But, would you kindly allow me to draw your attention to a few matters that might not have been appropriately addressed in the National Assembly, concerning your remarks in Ikot Ekpene, Akwa Ibom State, at the flag-giving ceremony for the candidates of the All Progressive Congress (APC) in the upcoming State Local Government elections?” he said.
“Mr. Senate President, having served as a senator in the 1980s—albeit for only a few months before a military coup overthrew the democratic government—I am familiar with the procedures of the Senate. In addition to chairing two other senate committees, one of my duties as a senator was serving as a member of the top Senate Select Committee, which was tasked with selecting the Senate’s committees.
