Senator Sunday Karimi (APC-Kogi) says the current crisis involving Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan and Senate President Godswill Akpabio has vindicated former Kogi governor Yahaya Bello.
Karimi, who represents Kogi West Senatorial District, asserted on Sunday while speaking to newsmen in Lokoja, describing the face-off as “very unfortunate and avoidable.”
“As a key player in the national assembly, I can comfortably say that the former governor could, after all, not have been blamed for what Akpoti-Uduaghan blamed him for in the state prior to the national assembly election.
“I’m sure Bello must have seen it coming when Akpoti-Uduaghan won the election to represent the Kogi Central Senatorial District in 2023.
“Again, at the height of the crisis, other Kogi lawmakers and I played major roles in ensuring that the state was not ridiculed.
“Unfortunately, reasonings could not prevail. Our intervention was rebuffed by her.”
He said that no well-meaning resident of Kogi would say he or she is happy with what has happened in the national assembly, with Akpoti-Uduaghan at the centre of it all.
According to him, before then, she had several running battles with Bello, before, during and after the national assembly elections in Kogi.
" can say that what is happening now in the Senate is a total mess and an embarrassment to the Kogi central senatorial district and the entire state.
“In fact, the recent happenings at the national assembly have only vindicated Bello, ” he said.
Karimi lamented that, in spite of sincere appeals and advice to Akpoti-Uduaghan, she rebuffed all.
He claimed that all admonitions to her fell on deaf ears, which “One can therefore come to terms with the fact that Bello saw it coming.”
According to him, it is unfortunate that the crisis can still bring needless embarrassment to the state and the entire nation.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) recalls that Akpoti-Uduagham, as a senator-elect, had accused Bello, the then Kogi governor, of orchestrating a deliberate and malicious plot to endanger her well-being during the senatorial election in October 2023.
These claims were publicly articulated during her appearance on the Tuesday edition of Channels Television's political affairs programme, Politics Today.