Senate President, Godswill Akpabio has dropped a bombshell.
He said: “We care about the President and we care about the Nigerian people. We will approve things that will benefit the Nigerian people.”
“We will approve things that would improve the living standard of the people. At the same time, we will also take cognizance of the duties of the President.”
“If his vehicle is bad, we will repair the vehicle. If his plane is bad, we will approve money for the repair of the plane. So, that is not an issue. There is nothing before us. I don’t think you should worry about it.”
“Somebody called me from the BBC, that what I said in Senator Mongunu’s house was false and should be disregarded, that I was now saying that I would not approve.”
“That is what you can call anticipated blackmail. The professors of the story know very well that maybe there is a problem with the presidential fleet and that where they will go to will be the parliament.”
“And so they are now trying to do anticipated blackmail to tell us that ‘If they bring it, do not look into it’.”
“So, I think that we should ignore them because of what we are doing here. I read the President’s correspondence to us, nothing was touching on a plane or no plane, but I can tell you that when you hear stories such as the death of the Vice President of Malawi as a result of a defective plane and then you hear stories such as the death of the President of Iran as a result of defective aircraft, we shouldn’t ever sit and allow such to be at the ocean. It wouldn’t be. The Senate is very responsible. The National Assembly is very responsible. We will look into issues that will benefit the governance of the country.”
“Irrespective of anticipatory blackmail, because those people know very well that something like that might come in the future, and if it’s a necessity, the Senate will look into it. But there is nothing like that before us now.”
“It’s not good for us to run the Senate by answering people in the social media because the social media is garbage in, garbage out.”
“I was in Zanzibar attending inter-parliamentary union meetings when that information went out that the Senate President said he would approve a brand new plan for the President irrespective of whether they are suffering or not suffering.”
“There was never a time such a statement came from me because I’ve never had any correspondence to approve a plane or not approve a plane and I did not want to answer, but they went to generate it and then they went around as if I was saying that I did not care about the Nigerian people.”