Akabio, Bamidele’s Argument, Normal Parliamentary Practice

The Senate has said the fight between the President of the Senate, Godswill Akpabio and the Senate Leader, Opeyemi Bamidele, during a recent executive session was not a sign that the Senate is divided.
There were several reports in the past week of a fight between Akpabio and Bamidele as the pair squared up during executive session and had to be separated in a near-blow exchange.
That was the second time the duo would engage in a fight in as many months since the commencement of the current legislative season.
While both men have whispered what happened among their close colleagues and friends, the Senate has officially for the first time acknowledged clashes among lawmakers are not new.
Rather, the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Senator Yemi Adaramodu, in a statement issued on Sunday, said it’s part of the legislative process.
He however said the clash was not as serious as was reported.
Adaramodu insisted that the reports misrepresented standard legislative processes as signs of internal discord.
He said, “Our attention has been drawn to diverse media reports claiming that President of the Senate, Godswill Akpabio and Leader of the Senate, Senator Opeyemi Bamidele clashed during an executive session recently convened to deliberate whether the Senate should proceed on annual recess.
“The reports do not contain any iota of truth. In entirety, they misconstrue time-tested practices and traditions in the parliament worldwide, where members, regardless of their political leanings, leverage the instruments of parliamentary debates, questions or interpellations to discuss every initiative decisively and eclectically before approval or authorisation.”
He argued that vigorous debate remains a hallmark of parliamentary democracy and does not indicate disunity among members.
“The Senate, as our country’s highest law-making institution, is not different in any way. Like other parliaments, every bill, motion and proposal is always subjected to intense scrutiny in our Chamber almost on a daily basis.
“This entails robust debates to which members discuss and dissect every initiative before the Senate purely in the interest of over 230 million Nigerians,” he said.
Adaramodu stressed that the deliberations, whether in plenary or committee sessions, should not be mistaken for personal altercations or signs of division within the Senate leadership.
“Whether in the chamber or committee room, debates on policy issues should not be misconstrued as altercations among members, neither do they suggest any crack in the rank of the leadership,” he added.