Former National Publicity Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Kola Ologbondiyan, has accused Senate President Godswill Akpabio of killing opposition voices in the Senate.
Ologbondiyan noted that under Akpabio, two senators, Abdul Ningi and Natasha-Akpoti-Uduaghan were suspended.
In an interview with AIT, on Saturday, the former PDP spokesman said Akpabio’s strike on opposition voices could be to please President Bola Tinubu who promised the senators re-election in 2027.
“The Senate has been mismanaged under the leadership of the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio. It’s been historic that within a space of less than two years of the Senate, two senators have gone on suspension. It’s historic; Abdul Ningi, and now Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan.
“When you look at it, it shows clearly that, one, the Senate, and I believe so, has not been properly managed. Two, that there’s an attempt to clamp down on the strong voices in the Senate, perhaps in line with the promise that everybody will come back in 2027 by the President of the country, when they went to present their budget,” he said.
The PDP chieftain decried that opposition voices were being killed under the current government and democratic institutions were being mangled.
He stressed that unless things change, the Senate under Akpabio may be remembered for lack of transparency and integrity.
“So, you find out that we have been put, this nation has been pushed to a situation in which opposition voices are going down. And democratic institutions are somehow being mangled. If you look at the situations that we have had so far, that is the precarious state of our country.
“Let me say this with every, also with every sense of responsibility. I hope the Senate will not go down as a Senate that is lacking in transparency and integrity. I hope the Senate will be,” he added.
