*Says New Constitution Review Under His Watch a Jamboree, Won’t Yield Change.
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Prominent lawyer and senior advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Jibrin Samuel Okutepa, has critiqued Senate President, Godwin Akpabio, over his recent comments blaming former Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) governor, Godwin Emefiele, for Nigeria’s economic mess.
Okutepa said Akpabio’s remarks expose the trivialization of governance and leaders not being held accountable in Nigeria. He questioned how Akpabio can blame Emefiele when he (Akpabio) was a powerful minister under the Buhari-led government and member of the Federal Executive Council that approved major economic decisions.
The senior lawyer said in sane countries, Akpabio would have resigned honorably as Senate President rather than lament over an economic crisis he did nothing about while serving in the previous administration.
Okutepa further picked holes in the launch of another constitution review exercise under Akpabio’s Senate leadership, describing it as a jamboree that will waste funds and yield no real change.
He advised that the Senate President should have maintained dignified silence rather than exposing his failure to steer the economy in the right direction during his ministerial tenure.
According to Okutepa “On a daily basis, Nigerian leaders assault the sensibilities of reasonable Nigerians with one lame excuses or the other of their failures in the art of governance. In the past week or so the media has been reporting the Sen President Godwin Obot Akpabio as saying that Godwin Emiefele the former Governor of CBN left the Nigerian economy in a mess and that the current administration does not know what to do or to charge Mr Emiefele with.
One of my learned friends, upon reading the lamentations, said Emefiele should be charged with messing up the economy. Whether such charge constitutes an offence in law will not be my concern in this write-up. But the suggestion underscored how Nigerians see our leaders. They are just jesters.
I had thought that Sen Akpabio was being misquoted. But traditional media reported it. But wait a minute was Sen Godwin Obot Akpabio not part of Buhari Government. As far as my memory serves me right Sen Akpabio was a federal minister under Buhari..Major economic policies and decisions under Buhari were brought and discussed in the Federal Executive Council, of which Sen Godwin Akpabio was a member.
Did Sen Akpabio suddenly wake up to know now that that government of which he was a part and parcel was running the economy aground. Was Sen Akpabio honestly thinking he was making sense when he was blaming Godwin Emiefele for the mess the economy of Nigeria was put. I recall that the monetary policy of Naira swap or change of currency and what have you were all undertaken upon approval of the President following approval of FEC. Akpabio was a very strong voice in FEC under Buhari. He was the uncommon transformer.
In a sane country where people are held accountable, Sen Godwin Obot Akpabio should have resigned from his office as Sen President by now. He was part and parcel of the Buhari mess. He can’t run away from that fact. This government is part of it too.This statement by Sen Akpabio clearly shows how governance in Nigeria has been trivialized and the interest of the people and Nigeria matters not.
How does one explain this kind of statement coming from Sen Akpabio, who was a powerful minister of the Niger Delta Affairs Ministry. Nigerians still remember the off the mic story. Sen Akpabio was part of those who campaigned that his party APC was going to build on the legacy of the Buhari government. So he was campaigning going to build on the legacies of messed up economy.
Indeed, how has the senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria under Sen Akpabio watch fared in their Constitutional duties of oversight functions even under this government. Most people screened for top jobs in this government were merely entertained with kid gloves of take a bow and go. There are no serious questions to test their intelligence, integrity, competence, and corruption allegations.”
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