Tinubu: Having Akpabio, Abbas at My Side as NASS Leaders Enough to Make Me Succeed

·      Legislature not appendage of executive, says Senate President

Deji Elumoye in Abuja

President Bola Tinubu, yesterday, disclosed that the efforts of his administration to transform Nigeria’s economy were yielding results with the support of the National Assembly led by Senate President, Senator Godswill Akpabio, and Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Tajudeen Abbas.

Speaking at a colloquium in Abuja to mark Akpabio’s 61st birthday, Tinubu said the challenges facing the country would be jointly assessed by the executive and legislature with a view to evolving implementable solutions for the good of Nigerians.

According to him, “Having Senate President Akpabio, and the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Abbas, on my side is enough for me to succeed, and we will succeed.”

Extolling the leadership credentials of the senate president, Tinubu said the chairman of the National Assembly had always shown commitment to national development, starting out as a commissioner in Akwa Ibom State, where he understudied Lagos, drew up a blueprint, and implemented it as a two-term executive governor.

The president stated, “I believe in the person of Senator Godswill Akpabio. He is truly in God’s will for his life. I was governor in Lagos State from 1999 to 2007, and he was a commissioner.

“As a commissioner, he was extremely inquisitive about what was going on in Lagos. I didn’t know then that he wanted to be a governor. As governor, he transformed Akwa Ibom tremendously.”

Tinubu recalled how some of the economic and social programmes initiated by Akpabio, when he was governor, developed the state, noting that the drainage system Akpabio constructed saved many lives and livelihoods.

Earlier in his remarks, the senate president commended Tinubu for his visionary leadership, most recently demonstrated by the quality of decisions taken so far to ensure improved security and a revamped economy.

Akpabio said regarding Tinubu, “You are the first president who openly stepped out and said you believed that someone like me would make a difference as Senate President.

“It is not that the National Assembly is an appendage of the executive. President Tinubu is the first to get it right. Mr. President, there’s no country that you have been to that investors did not rush to meet with you.”

Akpabio assured Tinubu that the National Assembly would work with him to transform the country, adding, “We did not come for a boxing bout. We came to transform Nigeria.”