The Senate had on Tuesday dropped a motion seeking to pass a vote of confidence in the President of the Senate, Ahmad Lawan, and the leadership of the 9th National Assembly.
The red chamber gave no official reason for dropping the motion.
Thirty-six senators were listed on the Senate Order Paper as sponsors of the motion.
Most senators had left the chamber at about 1pm when the motion was dropped.
Without providing reasons, Senate Deputy Whip, Abdullahi Aliu, who acted as Senate Leader, moved a motion that the vote of confidence motion be stood down till the next legislative day. It was seconded by Philip Aduda and was so adopted.
The principal sponsor of the motion is the immediate past governor of Borno State, Senator Shettima Kashim.
But Akwashiki told reporters on Thursday that the senators were loyal and were fully in support of their leadership.
He said, “There is nothing to worry about in the vote of confidence in the leadership of the Senate which was stood down on Tuesday during plenary.
“It is a vote of confidence and not a vote of no confidence.
“A vote of confidence is moved when members of a group are in support or in total agreement with the leadership.
“I see no big deal in the motion being stood down. I want us to exercise patience and wait for the day that the motion would be mentioned on the floor of the Senate.
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“I won’t speak further on it because it is a vote of confidence. I would have loved to speak more if it was a vote of no confidence and the Senate President decided to use his power as presiding officer to stand down the motion.
“Those who are moving the vote of confidence are in total support of the leadership, so it is not a serious issue.”
On the 36 senators comprising 25 All Progressives Congress and 11 Peoples Democratic Party members listed as co-sponsors of the motion, Akwashiki said it was a normal thing.
He added, “All of us are in total support of the motion but we cannot all have our names on it.
“If all of us should put our names on the list, then it’s no longer a motion. Now that the motion has been brought before the Senate, every senator would have the opportunity to speak on it. The number of sponsors does not matter.
“The vote of confidence motion has nothing to do with any crisis in the Senate. There is no crisis. Our loyalty to the leadership is total and complete.
“It is even possible for two senators to move motion on vote of confidence.”
There were 25 APC senators and 11 PDP members on the list as sponsors.
The motion read, “The Senate observes with satisfaction, the stability and unity of purpose witnessed by the 9th National Assembly under the leadership of Senator Ahmad Lawan since its inauguration on Tuesday, June 11, 2019.
“The Senate notes with much satisfaction the modest achievements of the 9th National Assembly in the discharge of its constitutional responsibility with much diligence and candour as exhibited by the Senate through the realignment of the budget calendar to January-December budget circle through the timely passage of the 2020 Appropriation Bill on Thursday, December 5, 2019.
“The Senate notes the timely passage of the Finance Bill 2019 to drive the fiscal reforms as proposed for the 2020 financial year; and the timely passage of the Public Procurement Act (Amendment) Bill, 2019 to reposition the procurement process.”
