Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, on Friday, jocularly told ex-Governor of Plateau State, Simon Lalong, that he would be biased if he asked the ministerial nominee any question during ministerial screening.
Lalong who was the Director General of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) Presidential Campaign Council during the 2023 general elections is one of the nine former governors that made the 48-man ministerial list of President Bola Tinubu.
Appearing before the senate on Friday, the ex-Chairman of the Northern Governors’ Forum applauded Akpabio as an “uncommon Senate President”.
Lalong also enthused that “a lot” of his former colleagues are in the 10th Senate.
He used the “opportunity” to thank the lawmakers for working with him to bring in the Tinubu government
Responding, the Senate President described Lalong’s speech as a “valedictory (and) acceptance speech” despite that he has not been confirmed as a ministerial appointee.
Akpabio said, “Distinguished Chairman, when you were the chairman of the last campaign, I was actually the vice chairman of the last campaign. So, I will be biased if I ask you any question because I can attest to integrity, I can attest to your capacity.”
The Senate President, however, proceeded to ask Lalong a question that “somebody asked”. Akpabio asked the ex-Plateau governor on what he would do differently for people to sleep peacefully in Benue and in the Plateau where herders’ crisis and communal clashes have been ubiquitous for years. He urged the nominee to give a “generic answer” and take a bow.
In his response, Lalong stressed the need for advanced technology, training and retraining of security agents, as well as constitutional role for traditional rulers, amongst others as solutions to the security challenges in the North Central geopolitical zone. He said the “best way” to handle ethno-religious crises is dialogue.