Akpabio’s Leadership Style In Senate Is Like Comedy

By Adesina Soyooye 

Without exactly putting it like that, Senator Ali Ndume, is of the opinion that the leadership style of Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, gives the impression of unseriousness. 

According to the Senator representing Borno South, the way Akpabio handles issues at plenary gives one the impression that one is watching a comedy.

Ndume who commented on Akpabio’s leadership style in an interview with Channels Television on Friday, however stated that nothing much can be done about it because certain personal traits are not easy to change.

Some behaviors, he noted, are either consciously or unconsciously  deeply rooted in  individual characters. 

Ndume: “You know there are certain things that human beings do unconsciously or consciously, and you can’t take that away. You can’t change him (Akpabio). No, you can’t; he’s not a small person. He’s not a small boy; he’s sixty-something, and you know the way he runs the Senate.

“Sometimes I can say, ‘Well, if you take this life too seriously’, but if you look at it, you think that he’s not serious; everything he’ll turn it into comedy.”

Akpabio’s tendency to introduce humor into serious proceedings, Ndume pointed out, atimes, shapes how the public interprets the seriousness of debates. 

For Ndume, leadership conduct plays a role in how  legislative businesses are perceived both within and outside the chamber.

He was also of the view  that, yes, personality differences are inevitable, but that  the management of plenary sessions “carries institutional weight.”

He added: “the manner in which debates are handled can influence perceptions about the Senate’s focus and discipline. Senate, as a deliberative body, requires conduct that reflects the gravity of national issues under discussion.”