Godswill Akpabio, minority leader of the senate, says
the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) could have
produced the senate president if lawmakers elected on
the party’s platform were greedy.

Speaking at a special session to mark the second
anniversary of the 8th senate, Akpabio explained how
a PDP senator suggested that the party should
nominate a candidate for the number one position in
the red chamber.

Akpabio said he rejected the idea of his collegaue. He
said the achievements of the upper legislative chamber
in two years have shown that not producing the
senate president was a good decision.

“I must congratulate my family, the PDP family for not
showing any greed. If we had shown greed on that
day, we could have produced the senate president,”
Akpabio said.

“I recall when one of you came to me and said, ‘Look
at the chamber – we trippled the APC members, let us
nominate somebody for the office of the senate
president’ and I said ‘No, let’s not do that’… the APC
had come with a mantra of change and if we produce
the senate president, they will turn all the blame of us
if things go wrong, that they wanted to do change but
look at this people.

“Two years down the line, you can see that we are
right for not going for the office of the senate
president.”

Earlier, Ahmed Lawan, majority leader of the senate,
said the legislature is the most misunderstood arm of
government.

Lawan emphaised on the need to enlighten citizens on
the functions of the legislature.

“The legislature is the misunderstood arm of
government we need to do much more to make our
citizens understand what we are supposed to do.
Sometimes, legislators are judged based on the roads
they have constructed, what we are supposed to do is
what we do here is that we legislate, appropriate,” he
said.

“We are what we do and we are what we don’t do, not
what someone else says we are, I believe this is a task
that we must continue to do, no matter how much we
do here, if someone remains uninformed, the tendency
is for that person to write them off. I believe that this
8th senate has come a long way having united
himself.”

TheCable