Former Adamawa North Senator, Ishaku Elisha Abbo has stated that the attempt to remove Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan representing Kogi Central District from the National Assembly will not succeed. Senator Abbo questioned how the signatures for the recall will be greater than the overall votes cast in Kogi Central in the 2023 election that brought Natasha to the Senate.
Speaking, Senator Abbo said, “Nobody can recall Natasha. We are not a banana Republic. The idea was that they would recall her, and they forged signatures. The registered voters in Kogi Central is over 500,000. Section 69 of the 1999 Constitution says you must have half the signatures of registered voters before they will recall you. They got 250,000 signatures to recall her. The law states that they must have 450,000 to have a referendum. Now, take a look at the 2023 election; the voter turnout on the national scale is just 27%, the vote Natasha got to go to the Senate was 54,000, her closest opponent got 52,000, LP, NNPP and others are there.
“All the votes got in 2023 was about 106,000 representing 22.1%. If the whole vote for Kogi Central is just 106,000, where will they manufacture over 50,000 votes to recall Natasha? This is just to keep her busy, they will never recall her. My advice is that she should continue pressing her own, be truthful, sincere, and remain firm against dictatorship.”
Speaking on Arise TV on Wednesday, Abbo accused Senate President Godswill Akpabio of orchestrating the removal of five Senators from the National Assembly and running the National Assembly like a personal Business.
“He told me that five senators would be removed. I asked how he knew, and he said, ‘I am the Senate President. I know.’ True to his words, five of us were removed. I had no idea that I was pencilled for removal.
“When I was in the Senate, I travelled to Kenya on a parliamentary assignment, I spent about $14,000, and I submitted a paper for reimbursement, but they refused to pay me to this very day. Before I was removed, I already obtained an Angola visa to represent the Senate at the Appeal Conference in Angola. The process has been so far as you are representing the country, you will remain there in the committee until new people are inaugurated. Akpabio returned me from the airport. My salary for that month was removed on the 19th of October and by Federal Government rule, after the 15th, you will be paid your salary. My salary was not paid for that month on the orders of Akpabio.
“There are 109 Senators, and five of us were removed. Two left, David Umahi as Minister of Works and Senator Ibrahim Gaidam left to become Minister of Police Affairs. Out of the seven senators who left the National Assembly, Akpabio sent their official cars to them excluding me. This is to lay a foundation for the person of Akpabio.”
Describing what he claimed as vindictiveness of the former Akwa Ibom Governor, Senator Abbo said Akpabio planned his removal because he never supported Akpabio for his election as Senate President over his commitment to another candidate, Abdulaziz Yari.
“He came to my hotel room around 2 AM, asking for my support. I told him I was already committed to Yari. Later, at a meeting at Transcorp Hilton, $10,000 was being distributed, but I refused to take any money,”
Speaking on the falling integrity of the Senate, Abbo said the leadership of the Senate is the problem and not the Institution.
“I have always defended the integrity of the Senate. The issue is the leadership, not the institution itself.”
“Now, let’s look at Senator Ali Ndume. When he raised concerns about the way things were being run in the Senate, he was removed as Chief Whip and stripped of his position as Vice Chairman of the Senate Committee on Appropriations.
“I also moved a motion to amend the Senate Standing Rules so that only senators who had served at least one term could contest for Senate leadership. But what did Akpabio do? He rewrote the rules to allow first-term senators to become leaders of both the majority and minority caucuses—just so he could control them.
“Do you know that in Akpabio’s house, senators serve him tea?
“Well, I am telling you now. And I told him, ‘You are no longer a governor. These senators are our colleagues, not your commissioners. They are not here to serve you tea,” Abbo said.
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