Senator representing Ekiti Central Senatorial District and the Deputy Director-General of the Akpabio/Barau campaign, Senator Michael Bamidele Opeyemi, on Tuesday revealed that Senators in the camp of the now Senate President, Godswill Akpabio made it to the National Assembly complex as early as 4 a.m. to avert a repeat of the 2015 confused election that produced Senator Olubukola Saraki as Senate President.
The Ekiti lawmaker made this known at a reception organized in his honour after being sworn-in, stating that in 2015, senators loyal to the former Senate President, kept vigil in the National Assembly Complex with a plan to install Saraki, while other lawmakers who opposed him at that time didn’t know and proceeded to the International Conference Centre for an engagement with the former President Muhammadu Buhari, only for the election to have taken place with Saraki as President of the Senate.
According to him, things became so unclear that those at the forefront of the campaign for Akpabio could not sleep in the last 48 hours, adding that the immediate past Senate President, Ahmad Ibrahim Lawan, had to intervene.
“We entered the National Assembly Complex around 4 a.m. in order to avert what happened in 2015. The victory wouldn’t have been possible if not for the efforts of the immediate past Senate President.
Meanwhile, immediate past Senate President described Bamidele as the pillar of the ninth Senate, commending him for his contributions to nation building. He added that the Ekiti lawmaker has handled cases for his office in the last four years successfully.
Lawan said: “We have become a family as we continue another four years in the Senate and beyond.”
Other prominent personalities at the reception are Ajero of Ijero-Ekiti, Adebayo Adewole, Oluyin of Iyin Ekiti, Ajakaye among others.
Opeyemi thanked the royal fathers that came from the Ekiti Central Senatorial districts for their presence at the reception.
