Lawmakers Profited Most from Abdusalami’s 1999 Action – Akpabio

By Henry Umoru

Senate President Godswill Akpabio said that members of the National and State Houses of Assembly were major beneficiaries of former Head of State General Abdulsalami Abubakar’s decision to hand over power to a civilian administration in 1999.

During a statement released by his Special Assistant on Media, Jackson Udom, Akpabio made the comments on Saturday at the Banquet Hall of the Presidential villa. The remarks were given during the public presentation of three books in honour of the former head of state and in celebration of his 84th birthday.

“Your Excellency, on behalf of my colleagues, I thank you for the patriotic action and decision you took on May 29th 1999. By that action, you restored democratic structures at both the National and state levels. We the lawmakers are major beneficiaries of that act of sacrifice over the past two decades,” he said.

“My colleagues are awaiting your approval for a date to celebrate and honour you for your self‑lessness and sacrifice for this nation, despite the pressure from sycophants in the corridors of power who urged you to extend your tenure by one year, three or six months,” Akpabio continued.

“I salute your courage and sacrifice because you did not allow yourself to be misled by those who tried to persuade you to postpone the handover by one year, six or three months. If you had changed your mind under that pressure, no one would have challenged you. But as a man of integrity and faith, you ignored them and kept to your promise. When it was time, you put in place a democratically elected government with Chief Olusegun Obasanjo as the first beneficiary of that decision,” he added.

“Your Excellency, this podium is too small for members of the National and State Assemblies to eulogise and celebrate you because you did so much for Nigeria and Nigerians. During military rule, the Executive and Judiciary are always intact. It is the legislature that is usually suspended, and that is why we must celebrate you for restoring democracy in the shortest time,” Akpabio said.

The Senate President also remarked that “your emergence as head of state in 1998 was a fulfilment of God’s plans for you. You were destined to lead Nigeria and no one could change that. My prayers, and those of my colleagues in the NASS, are that you will live to see many more decades after today.”

“Thank you for putting your thoughts in the biography for Nigerians and for enriching our history. Nigerians yet unborn will always be grateful for what you did on that fateful day,” he concluded.

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