The ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) has lambasted the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for asking Senate President Godswill Akpabio to step aside over the suspension of Senator Abdul Ningi.
The APC said Akpabio has done nothing wrong to warrant him stepping aside on account of such matters in the Senate.
The party in a press statement, on Friday in Abuja, by its National Publicity, Felix Morka, said the legislative authority of the Senate includes the authority to make its own rules and adopt its own procedures for discharging its constitutional mandate.
According to the APC, “That extends to modifying its rules and standing orders in accordance with its rules and procedures, and in observance of all applicable legal and constitutional standards.
“It also has the authority to discipline its members in accordance with its institutional and constitutional due process.
“The President of the Senate has done nothing wrong to warrant him stepping aside on account of this or any other disclosed matter.
“The PDP should quit being a meddlesome interloper, expend its lean energy on revamping its decrepit institution, and leave the Senate to carry on its important role of deepening our democracy and stabilising our dear nation.”
The party wondered how the suspension of Senator Ningi without first referring the matter to a Senate standing committee was proof of a cover up?
“How is a committee of the full Senate conducting an inquiry in the matter, in full public view on national television, less independent and transparent or in violation of the Senate’s standing rules or any other laws of the Federal Republic of Nigeria?
“Contrary to the PDP’s twisted argument, the Senate neither violated its standing rules and orders nor the Constitution by not referring the matter to a relevant committee.
“Rather, placing the matter before the committee of the whole, under public scrutiny, underscored the premium the Senate placed on transparency in the conduct of its proceedings. It was clear for all to see that the author of the allegation was unable to offer any substantiation or justification.
“It is eerily comical that the PDP, a party with a sordid legacy of monumental corruption, would suggest that the President of the Senate should turn himself to anti-graft agencies for investigation.”
