The Chairman, Senate Committee on media, Godiya Akwashiki, has dismissed insinuations that the Senate leadership was suppressing minority voices to satisfy certain interests in the chamber.
Reacting to the drama that played out on the floor of the Senate on Thursday, Akwashiki accused the Minority leader, Eyinnaya Abaribe of playing to the gallery by trying to score cheap popularity .
He also dismissed the decision of the Minority Leader to leave the chamber in anger, describing it as no big deal .
He said, “ There is no big deal if the Minority Leader of the Senate walks out of the chamber. No law forbids him from doing so. It is not in the Senate rule that if a senator is going out, the Senate President should stop him; no law says that.
“As far as I am concerned, somebody must always occupy the seat of the Minority Leader or the Majority Leader for legislative activities to continue in the chamber. I do know that after the closed – door session, we passed the two recommendations of the committee .
“The Majority Leader moved for the adoption of the recommendations and it was seconded by somebody from the minority caucus. The law did not say that the Minority Leader must be on the seat before the activities of the Senate could continue . Even if the Majority Leader is not there, his deputy will take over .
“Abaribe might have left the chamber to attend a committee meeting and decided to delegate his powers to his deputy .”
Akwashiki also justified the decision of the President of the Senate to deny Abaribe the chance to debate the committee report .
“We set aside a date to agree on whether to borrow as a nation or not. We discussed the issue extensively in the chamber. If anybody has reasons why we should not take the loan that was the most appropriate day to voice out . That is the best day to vibrate, not a day meant for the approval of the loan.
“We have given the assignment to the committee which met and returned to the plenary with their findings and recommendations . On a day like this ( Thursday ) , we are only expected to go through the recommendations of the committee which represented the entire Senate .
“For somebody to bring partisanship into it and try to cause confusion, it would not be allowed in the Senate because we are lawmakers working and operating under Senate rules . I don ’t want somebody who is trying to gain cheap popularity to come up and the press would want to support him . No .
“The minority leader created the confusion since he demanded a debate on the foreign loan request, knowing full well that it was against the Senate rules .
The Senate President gave the Minority Leader all the time he needed to talk so that it will not look as if he is being denied his rights .
“If you are saying that the Senate was a rubber stamp, then, the Minority Leader is also a part of the rubber stamp . He was there when the request was read on the floor of the Senate , he was there when we set aside a day for the debate. I don ’t know whether he walked out angrily or not .” (Punch)
