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NASS Crisis: APC Chieftain, Gololo Wants Party to Caution Akpabio, Warns the Senate against Confirmations of EFCC Chairman

Published

3 years ago

October 18, 2023

By Abdulateef Bamgbose

As the crisis in the upper legislative Chamber of the National Assembly, over the style of the leadership by the president of the Senate, Senator Godswill assumed another dimension in the Senate on Tuesday, dominating the headlines, All Progressive Congress ( APC ), Chieftain and other stakeholders outside the Senate have been drawn into the trenches, with a call for APC, to Caution the Senate president or to resign his office.

Signs that the crisis rocking the leadership of the Senate may not thaw any moment soon started emerging on Wednesday.

Addressing newsmen in Abuja, on Wednesday, Dr. Haruna Gololo Gololo, an All Progressive Congress,( APC), Chieftain, from the North has called on the APC leadership to call the president of the Senate, senator Godswill Akpabio to order or he shows the way out of the office.

” He has to be cautioned and called to order immediately, the APC as a party has to be careful, if Akpabio cannot provide leadership, he better pack his kayak( property), and drop from the office.

As a retired military officer, I am aware as the Commander, you don’t begin to remove your Commanding Officers ( CO), who are you going to put there, the platoon commander or sector Commander?”

” The point is that the Senate president is not from the North, so he doesn’t know the impact of the border closure and the negative impact on the Northerners, because when the border opens for instance now a bag of Corn is 70,000, guinea Corn is 70000, if the border is open it must be more cheaper than this, so the continuous closure of the border is affecting the North.”

” The Senate president is not from the North, he is from Akwa- Ibom, he doesn’t know what is happening in the North, because for him to shut down Senator Ali Mohamed Ndume, we cannot take that. Senator Ndume is one of the most respected Senators from the North, he is the Senator we regard in the North today” Gololo said.

The former Coordinator of the Tinubu/ Shettima Presidential Campaign in the North East said that ” it is only Ndume and Elisha Abbo, that has been speaking for the North, now Senator Abbo has been fired out of the Senate by the same people, so we don’t know whether senator Godswill Akpabio has personal grudges against the Northerners.”

Continue, he told me newsmen” It was senator Ali Ndume, as a Director General of his campaign that brought him to office as senate president, against all odds.”

Gololo alleged that Akpabio is weakening the APC leadership in the Senate ahead of 2027.

In his words ” You know he decamps from The people’s Democratic Party, PDP, to APC, so he is working underground for 2027, maybe soon he will decamp back to PDP, because of how he is going and what he is doing.

He is working against APC lawmakers. The more you reduce the number in the Chamber, the same number that gave him the Senate president office, the more you reduce the strength of the APC, because the election of the Senate president could have gone any other way, it could have been PDP or Labour party, as at the time he was elected to the office of the president of the Senate”
” He is reducing the number because he doesn’t want APC to exist against 2027″

Similarly, the All Progressive Congress ( APC), has called on the Senate not to confirm the appointment of the new EFCC Chairman, Ola Olukoyede, as according to him it is against the the law that established EFCC and against the 1999 constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

” The law is very explicit and clear, it says 15 years, and from the rank of AC and above, the nominee is just a lawyer, it is not about court proceedings.”

He appealed to the presidency to reverse the nomination in the interest of justice saying
” Follow the law because, if you are a president, and you don’t follow the law, how do you expect the common man or ordinary Nigerians to follow the law?”

” The president should lead by example, something must be done, we are not saying it is because he is from the South, anybody can be appointed, but let us follow the law.”

Gololo, commended the president, Ahmed Bola Tinubu, for appointing the ICPC chairman from the North, but insisted due process must be adhered to in giving out of appointment.
He described the recent confirmation of the Chairman of the Niger Delta Development Commission ( NNDC), as an aberration saying.”

” It is just like the confirmation of the NNDC Chairman after acting for five years, making it ten years. You mean there is nobody from all the states in the South who can be appointed?
All the appointments from the South-south are from Akwa-Ibom.”

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AWESSA 2026: Customs Assures Border Cooperation for Women Entrepreneurs

Published

9 hours ago

October 25, 2026

The Gleamer

By James Samuel, Abuja

The Nigeria Customs Service has said the nation’s borders must become gateways of opportunity for African women entrepreneurs, not obstacles that kill their businesses.

This was disclosed at the African Women’s Economic Sovereignty Summit and Awards (AWESSA) 2026 held at the Customs House, corporate headquarters of the Nigeria Customs Service in Abuja.

Representing the Comptroller-General of Customs, Bashir Adewale Adeniyi, MFR, his representative, an Assistant Controller, said hosting the summit inside Customs premises was deliberate.

“That this summit holds within the Customs premises is no accident. It is a statement of intent,” he said.

“The border is where the promise of every African trader either comes alive or dies quietly. And the men and women of this Service have resolved that for every woman entrepreneur of this continent, that promise will never die.”

He said women account for an estimated 70% of informal cross-border trade in Africa and over half of agricultural labour, yet they face documentation, standards, finance and harassment challenges.

“Too often she meets the border as an obstacle rather than a gateway. Because she trades in small volumes, in cash, in informality without formal papers, capable business women are now trapped in informality, invisible to trade statistics,” he noted.

He added: “AfCFTA will not be delivered by treaties alone. It will be delivered at border posts, in conference halls, and in market stores.”

Also speaking, the Executive Director of the Nigerian Export Promotion Council, Mrs. Nonye Ayeni, represented by a Director, said women are central to Nigeria’s non-oil export sector.

According to her, NEPC’s focus is now on building export- ready competitive enterprises through programmes like the Women in Export Initiative, Export Clinic, and Zero to Export.

“Our focus is no longer on encouraging exports alone, it is on building competitive export-ready enterprises. We are supporting women to move beyond production into value addition, quality assurance, standard compliance, branding and market positioning,” she said.

She said AfCFTA offers a market of over one billion people, but women need knowledge, certifications and institutional support.

“Empowering women economically is one of the most effective tools for achieving poverty reduction, food security, job creation and inclusive growth,” she stated.

The Convener, Helen Okon, who is the Publisher of Business Review Africa & Africa Today Magazine, as well as representatives of NAFDAC DG and NEXIM Bank MD, reaffirmed commitment to supporting women-owned businesses access standards, certification and finance.

The summit, with the theme of positioning women as drivers of trade and sustainable development, is part of activities marking the International Year of the Women Farmer.

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