Nigerian Senate President Godswill Akpabio has declared he never intended to step down from his position as leader of the national assembly.
Akpabio stated this on the floor of the Senate plenary on Thursday, in response to Senate majority leader Senator Michael Opeyemi Bamidele, who passed a vote of confidence in him.
Bamidele, who has represented the Ekiti Central senatorial district since 2019, rose to tell Akpabio that those who would have thought that the Senate would ask him to step down over allegations of sexual harassment must be disappointed by now.
The majority lesder thanked his colleagues for standing in solidarity with the Senate President, insisting that the lawmakers will also ask for evidence whenever they are accused of any crime.
He said, “By now I’m sure you know, sir, that those who felt that by now, this Senate would have asked you to step down would have seen now that we are focused on what we are doing, and whatever the level of allegation against anyone of us, we will always ask for evidence, and we will do what is in overriding public interest. I just want to thank you, and I thank all our colleagues.”
In response, Akpabio said, “To answer you, you said, ‘those who would have asked you to step down’, who told you I was going to step down due to false allegations?
“If you watch the record in America, there are black people because of their skin, who went to prison…some 25 years for false allegations. So, I’m not one of those people.
“They will step down for false allegation and when it’s proven that the allegations are false, they say, ‘Oh, we were unfair to Akpabio.’ So, if you have that in mind, please cancel it.”
Just recently, the female lawmaker, who is currently on suspension for allegedly flouting the Senate standing rules, published a sarcastic apology to Akpabio on her official Facebook page.
Akpoti-Uduaghan claimed in the post that she was sorry for the “crime of maintaining dignity and self-respect”.
