Tag: Godswill Akpabio

Akpabio under fire, as Ohanaeze youths rally behind Emefiele

Aminu Imam
Akpabio Emefiele

Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, has come under fire over his remarks against the former governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele. The Ohanaeze Youths, on Sunday, lashed out at the Senate President, insisting that Emefiele stabilised the economy which the National Assembly was destroying with its legislative recklessness. The youths asserted this in a reaction to Akpabio’s attacks on Emefiele at Ikot Ekpene Stadium over the weekend while addressing his kinsmen from Akwa Ibom North-West Senatorial District who hosted him and his National Assembly colleagues in a…

Read More

2027: Akpabio kick-starts Tinubu’s 2nd-term bid

Aminu Imam
Akpabio Tinubu

Senate President Godswill Akpabio has begun drumming support for President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s re-election barely months into the President’s first term. Addressing a gathering of State governors and federal lawmakers that paid Sallah homage to Tinubu at his residence in Lagos on Friday, Akpabio expressed confidence in the President’s leadership, going as far as praying for Tinubu’s victory in the 2027 general elections. “As you coast home to victory for a second term, may all the governors seated here also coast home to a second-term victory in their States”, Akpabio…

Read More

Budget-Padding: CSO threatens mass protest against Akpabio

Aminu Imam
CSO Akpabio

A Civil Society Organisation, (CSO), ‘National Association For Peaceful Co-existence and Good Governance‘ has threatened to organise a massive protest against the President of the Senate Godswill Akpabio over the recent allegation of budget-padding levelled against him by senator representing Bauchi-Central, Abdul Ningi. Founder of the group, Comrade Isiaku Balogun Nathaniel, said the matter would not be swept under the carpet, urging President Bola Tinubu to probe Ningi’s allegations and the leadership of the Senate to make clarification and reinstate the suspended senator within one week. He said, “We are…

Read More

Akpabio under fire for linking soldiers’ killing to mercenaries

Aminu Imam
President of the Senate, Godswill Akpabio

?Civil society organisations, (CSOs), and a security expert have berated Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, for linking Thursday’s killings of 16 military men in Delta State to foreign mercenaries. The troops were killed while on a peace mission to the warring communities of Okuama and Okoloba. Recall that Akpabio spoke during Tuesday’s plenary, when the Senate resolved to set up a committee to unmask the circumstances behind the military personnel’s killings. He said, “I don’t want to conclude that these people are from Niger-Delta; because we respect men and women in…

Read More

Delta: ‘Foreign mercenaries may be behind 16 soldiers’ killing’ – Akpabio

Aminu Imam

President of the Senate, Godswill Akpabio, has hinted that the 16 soldiers who lost their lives in Okuama community in Ughelli-South Local Government Area of Delta State, may have been killed by mercenaries. The Senate President made the assertion yesterday, during a debate at plenary over the ‘gruesome’ murder of the service men. Deliberating on a Motion moved by the lawmaker representing Katsina Central, Senator Abdul-Aziz Musa Yar’adua, on the “killing of Nigerian Army Personnel in Okuama community, Delta State and the Necessity for an Urgent Investigation,” the Senate President…

Read More

Alleged N3.7tr Budget-Padding: Northern Govs., other stakeholders urge Tinubu to remove Akpabio 

Aminu Imam

Northern governors and some other stakeholders are pressurising President Bola Tinubu to ensure the removal of Senate President Godswill Akpabio or face dire political consequences. It was gathered that the suspension of Ningi was heating the political scene, which had started to get to President Tinubu. According to some top sources in the National Assembly, the heat generated by the budget padding controversy had gone beyond what was anticipated by Senate President Akpabio. Recall that Senator Ningi, representing Bauchi-Central senatorial district, on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), recently…

Read More

Budget Padding: SERAP gives Akpabio 7 days to reinstate Ningi or face legal actions

Aminu Imam

The Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP), has issued Senate President, Godswill Akpabio a 7-day ultimatum within which he’s to reinstate the suspended Senator representing Bauchi-North, Abdul Ningi. SERAP, which wrote the letter to the Senate urged Senate President to urgently refer the allegations that lawmakers padded the 2024 Budget by irregularly inserting projects worth N3.7 trillion to EFCC and ICPC for investigation and prosecution. Tinubu was also asked to refer the allegations of budget-padding and irregularities for which the senator was suspended to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission,…

Read More

Amidst Budget controversy, Akpabio’s constituency gets N21bn projects

Aminu Imam

The Federal Government has persisted in its trend of lopsided financial allocations in the annual budget, contrary to the intended purpose of even wealth distribution. Investigations by this newspaper reveal that certain institutions and senatorial districts, with influential representatives in both the National Assembly and Executive arms of government, manipulate the national budget to their advantage. An analysis of the 2024 national budget has exposed disparities, with some senatorial districts receiving as low as N6-7 billion, while others, such as Akwa Ibom North-West Senatorial District, home to Senate President, Godswill…

Read More

Alleged Budget-padding: “Step down immediately”, PDP tells Akpabio

Aminu Imam

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has asked Senate President Godswill Akpabio to “immediately step aside” and allow for an independent investigation into the allegation that the 2024 appropriation act was padded by N3 trillion. Recall that at the weekend, Senator representing Bauchi-central, Abdul Ningi, stirred controversy when he alleged that the 2024 Budget was padded by N3 trillion, and that the country is operating two Budgets concurrently. On Tuesday, the allegation was debated at the “committee of the whole” of the red chamber, amid a rowdy session. Subsequently, the senator…

Read More

2024 Budget: “Where is N3tr?” – Northern Senators demand answers from Tinubu, Akpabio

Aminu Imam

The Northern Senators Forum, (NSF), has claimed that its auditors have uncovered a N3 trillion increase in the N28 trillion 2024 budget signed by President Bola Tinubu. They are demanding an explanation for the increase, amid claims that the Budget is skewed against the North in particular. The Forum’s chairman, Abdul Ningi, stated this during an interview aired on the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) Hausa Service on Saturday. Ningi said, “For the past three months, we have engaged consultants to review the Budget for us. We have some experts who…

Read More