From Emmanuel Adeyemi, Lokoja
The Senator representing Kogi West Senatorial District in the National Assembly, Senator Sunday Karimi, has said that the current happenings in the Senate involving the lawmaker representing Kogi Central, Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, were a significant embarrassment to Kogi State in particular and Nigeria in general.
Karimi, while fielding questions from newsmen in Lokoja over the weekend, said it was a pity that several admonitions and pieces of advice given to Natasha before the crisis reached this dimension were ignored as she always claims to know it all, saying certain actions taken by her were ridiculously juvenile.
Karimi said with these hard postures of Natasha, it was now clear why she had long-running battles with former Governor Yahaya Bello, who he said was now justified.
Senator Karimi noted that, as a key player in the National Assembly, he could 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 elections.
The Kogi West Senator, who spoke to journalists in Lokoja in reaction to the face-off between Akpoti-Uduaghan and Senate President Godswill Akpabio, said, “former Governor Yahaya Bello must have seen it coming.”
“Other Kogi lawmakers and I played major roles in ensuring that the State was not brought to ridicule, but no amount of reasoning could prevail. Our intervention was rebuffed,” he said.
He recalled that the Kogi Central Senator had several running battles with the former Governor before, during, and after the National Assembly elections in the state, noting that recent happenings had only vindicated former Governor Bello.
According to him, what is happening now in the Senate is a total mess and an embarrassment brought to the entire state.
He lamented that, in spite of sincere appeals and advice, which he said fell on deaf ears, it was unfortunate that the needless embarrassment could still be brought to the state and the nation at large.
“All our admonition to her fell on deaf ears. One can therefore come to terms with the fact that former Gov Yahaya Bello saw it coming.
“Sen. Natasha has not only rubbished the perception of the state, from the events happening now in Nigeria, she has also embarassed the entire country,” he stated.