Group flays Bamidele over alleged conspiracies to frustrate senate president

By Abubakar Yunusa Ojima-Ojo

The Coalition of Northern Groups (CNG) has flayed Senator Opeyemi Bamidele from Ekiti Central Senatorial District over his allegation that the Northern Senators have conspired to frustrate Godswill Akpabio’s tenure as Senate President.
It would be recalled that recently on the floor of the Senate, Bamidele, who is also the Majority Leader of the upper chamber, alleged that Senator Abdul Ningi, who represents Bauchi Central Senatorial District, attempted to unseat Senate President Godswill Akpabio by allegedly inciting the Northern Senators’ Forum which he led against Akpabio, a southern senator.
A statement on Thursday issued by Comrade Jamilu Aliyu Charanchi, National Coordinator of CNG, described Bamidele’s statement as “irresponsible and callous attempt to distort history and point fingers at the North.”
Charanchi said: “This desperate attempt to rewrite history and as usual, put the blame on the North for all the country’s woes is unacceptable as well as repugnant to the sensibilities of northerners.
“In his misguided and insane tirade, Senator Bamidele ignorantly forgot or deliberately ignored key historical facts that paint a different but true picture.
“He failed to acknowledge that it was President Shehu Shagari, a northerner, who made Joseph Wayas President of the Senate of the Second Republic, against a fellow northern aspirant in the National Party of Nigeria (NPN).
“Furthermore, Bamidele mischievously failed to mention that it was President Olusegun Obasanjo, a southerner, who orchestrated the removal of several southern individuals from the Senate presidency.
“He must also remember that southern politicians like President Obasanjo too have played their part in manipulating the political landscape when he ruthlessly removed three Peoples Democratic Party national chairman of northern extraction from their positions.