Abaribe denies query over IPOB leader’s bail terms

Senator Eyinnaya Abaribe has denied media reports of a query over Nnamdi Kanus bail terms by other lawmakers at Tuesday’s closed door session.

The Senate upon resumption on Tuesday, September 26, 2017 moved into an executive session which lasted for over two hours.

At the end of the session, Senate President Bukola Saraki announced that the lawmakers had discussed matters bordering on the peace and unity of the country.

Saraki noted that lawmakers at the closed door meeting resolved that Nigeria’s unity remained non-negotiable.

The Senate President further called on aggrieved parties to carry out their agitations in line with the constitutional provisions.

But in an article titled 'IPOB: senators query Abaribe over Kanu's bail', argued that some lawmakers had quizzed Abaribe over the bail conditions of the IPOB leader.

This did not go down well with Abaribe who stood as a surety for Kanu.

Speaking at plenary on Wednesday, September 27, 2017, Abaribe described the report as erroneous and misleading.

The lawmaker urged the leadership of the Senate to ask the media house to name its news source.

“I was surprised to find 'IPOB: senators query Abaribe over Kanu's bail'. Mr President we have always said in this floor that anything the presiding officer says on the closed-door session that is the sum total of our discussion," Abaribe began.

"And I remember yesterday that three points were made as a result of our discussion. Which was Nigeria's unity and effort by this senate to make sure we help in bringing peace to this country.

“The headline that purports to say that this is what happened in our closed-door session which of course did not happen does not in any way advance the course of peace in this country.

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"My constituents have been worried, they have called me and they have been asking me and I have told them that it is not true and I will bring it up on the floor and ask the entire senate to please help us to ask DailyTrust to produce whoever gave them this erroneous and misleading information.

"The senate does not query any of its members, that is the first place where they failed in casting this headline because each senator knows what we discussed and what came out at the end of it.

"I wish to be given the opportunity to lay this newspaper and ask this senate to please look at the attempt at driving a wedge between the south-east senators and the northern senators, because it was said here that the northern senators made a demand for which the south-east senators reluctantly agreed.

"Some people are bent on making sure that there is no peace but I know that God will not allow them," he concluded.

Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, who presided over plenary appealed to the media to be responsible and ‘avoid publishing rumours'.