Akpabio, a ‘lap dog’ of President Tinubu, may be impeached

Plans are afoot by some top politicians who are averse to the leadership of Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, to impeach him when the session reopens by the end of this month.

Lawmakers of the upper and lower legislative chambers are on two month annual recess to resume on are September 26.

In a report published by Vanguard Newspapers, said those plotting for the impeachment of Godswill Akpabio accused him of being a lap dog of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, a development, they said, was against the spirit of independence of legislature.

They were irked that the former governor of Akwa Ibom State and ex-Minister of Niger Delta Affairs did not give full attention to his colleagues who working hard enough to meet the expectations of Nigerians despite the challenges in the country.

Reliable sources confirmed that some of the aggrieved Senators, led by two former North West governors, want to use the recent slip made by Akpabio that ‘prayers’ had been sent to their mailboxes for celebrations to punish him.

A top source in the National Assembly said that the anti-Akpabio group had already held several meetings in Saudi Arabia and Ilorin to perfect plans to impeach him upon Senate resumption.

It was gathered that although the Senate President had since clarified what he meant by “prayer” and withdrawn it, his gaffe did not go down well with many of his colleagues.

The source said: “All of these are preparatory to the 2027 general elections where a new “hybrid party” is expected to be floated by the arrowheads of the scheme.

“Plans are in top gear by some Senators to remove the Senate President, Senator Godswill Akpabio.

“I can tell you confidently that there are four Senators spearheading the plot, and two of the lawmakers are former governors from the North West geo-political zone of the country.

“As a matter of fact, they had consulted one of their colleagues chairing a sensitive committee of the upper chamber over the sinister move.

“To firm up their game plan, they met in Saudi Arabia recently, and also in Ilorin, the Kwara State capital, with the same agenda to remove the Senate President.”

Another source noted that: “There are plans to establish a hybrid party ahead of the 2027 elections.

“The plan is to draw membership of the yet-to-be-named political platform from the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and opposition parties, especially the People’s Democratic Party (PDP).

“They intend to replicate the ‘tsunami’ that hit the then-ruling PDP in 2014, where many heavyweights of the party moved to form what is today the SPC.”

Meanwhile, The Whistler reports that leading the charge to impeach Akpabio are Senators Abdulaziz Yari, the All Progressives Congress senator from Zamfara State, and Aminu Tambuwal of the Peoples Democratic Party from Sokoto State.

Yari was the main challenger of Akpabio for the senate presidency, while Tambuwal was one of his key backers.

Mohammed Onawo Ya’u Sumaila, another PDP senator from Nasarawa State, is also said to be among the leaders of the move to convince other senators to sign on to the impeachment plot.

The senators are said to be capitalizing on President Bola Tinubu’s aggressive handling of the Niger coup and some of the policies of the Tinubu government perceived as anti-people (including removal of fuel subsidy) to whip up sentiments in favour of ousting the current leadership of the Senate.

A highly placed source privy to the scheme disclosed on Friday night that Yari is wooing opposition senators to perfect his plan to take over the Senate.

“They are currently in Saudi Arabia where they are perfecting plans to ensure Akpabio is removed,” the source said.

“They claim he’s too subservient to the president, and he’s not allowing the senate to question the presidency and act as a check.”