● It is reminiscent of Akpabio days as PDP senator-THE CONCLAVE Board of Editors recalls
Staff members of the National Assembly were taken back to see the immediate past President of the Senate, Ahmad Lawan, show up at the Senate Chamber for an unscheduled plenary.
Lawan’s appearance for “plenary” on Thursday morning after the Senate had on Wednesday, May 29, 2024, adjourned sitting to Tuesday, next week, stirred a drama as some staff members became curious and watch him bring out his pen to sign the attendance register placed at the entrance of the Senate chamber.
Recall that the Senate had adjourned plenary on Tuesday, May 28, 2024, to reconvene on Wednesday, May 29, 2024, in a joint session to receive President Bola Tinubu as part of programme of events to commemorate the one-year anniversary of the Tinubu administration.
Ahmad Lawan was at the joint sitting. His sudden arrival at the Senate Chamber on Thursday therefore caught the attention of staff members and others who were around the entrance of the Chamber when the drama took place.
The former Senate President had appeared in the lobby of the White House, dressed in a glowing white “agbada” accompanied by his security details.
He hurriedly headed to the chamber for “sitting” and was bringing out his pen to sign the attendance register, only to realize that there was no sitting.
THE CONCLAVE reports that the staff members and some other onlookers were surprised at the development.
A witness of the episodic scene said: “It was clear that there was no communication between the former Senate President and his security details. The details just followed him like zombies, ready for the next instructions. So, his aides can be excused for not adverting his attention to the fact that there was no sitting on Thursday since they themselves were possibly not apprised of that fact.
“Senator Ahmad Lawan who attended plenary on Tuesday and joint sitting on Wednesday was either himself not apprised of the decision of the Senate not to sit on Thursday or he was, but forgot under some intense pressure.”
THE CONCLAVE implicates amnesia in the solo, shocking drama put up by the immediate past Senate President.
The development has immediately raised a number of concerns about and around Senator Lawan who contested the presidential ticket of the All Progressives Congress (APC) with President Tinubu.
Recall that after winning the presidential ticket of the party, Tinubu had said at the Eagle Square, venue of the primary election, concerning Lawan that he was already licking his wounds.
There are feelers that Lawan, who deployed mega bucks in prosecuting his presidential enterprise may have come under intense presidential inquisitorial pressure to locate his source of funding as a consequence of his action.
THE CONCLAVE reports that Lawan was not the first to experience a bout of amnesia in a situation of possible investigation by the nation’s anti-graft agencies.
During Senator Godswill Akpabio’s first time in the Senate on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) before he was reportedly forced to decamp to the APC, he was consistently acting forgetful of the location of the Senate Chamber in the White House.
A member of THE CONCLAVE Board of Editors who is always in and around the premises of the National Assembly confirmed that he witnessed at least three different occasions when Akpabio came in through the rear door into the White House and made to go leftwards, which is the direction to the House of Representatives instead of rightwards, which is the direction to the Senate Chamber.
The editor said on each occasion, his security details were on top of their game as they swiftly and seamlessly guided him towards the right to enable him go straight into the Senate Chamber.
It would be recalled that the Akpabio dramatics happened when he was reportedly under investigations by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) in connection with a reported N108 billion fraud.
A report by THE PUNCH dated August 7, 2016 entitled: “N108bn fraud: EFCC to seize Akpabio’s properties (property)” said the anti-graft agency was investigating allegations that the former governor embezzled N108bn during his tenure between 2007 and 2015.
According to the report, the EFCC had written to five banks demanding information on Akwa Ibom State finances under Akpabio’s administration.
The report had quoted a source to have said: “We have written to Zenith Bank, Keystone Bank, FCMB, Skye Bank, and UBA demanding information on the state’s account. We are also inviting the accountant general, the auditor general, the Speaker and the Clerk to the House of Assembly. We have traced some houses to the former governor in Lagos and Abuja and it is just a matter of time before we seize them.”
THE CONCLAVE reports that the EFCC investigation had put intense pressure on Akpabio at that intersection, largely distracting him in the Senate and making him to act forgetful.
He had to decamp to the APC. Although the EFCC continued its investigation, it was not as intense as previously.
Recall that the EFCC still wrote to Akpabio in the build up to his emergence as Senate President to submit himself at the Commission for interrogation, but he got across to the agency through his lawyer, Umeh Kalu, that he was indisposed and therefore could not honour the invitation
THE CONCLAVE reports that the immediate past Senate President, Senator Ahmad Lawan, may be going through a situation that bears similitude with the Akpabio saga.
THE CONCLAVE
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