By Newsmata
Chairman, Senate Committee on Ethics, Code of Conduct, and Public Petitions and Senator Representing Edo South at the National Assembly, Neda Imasuen, insisted on Sunday that the Senate’s use of voice vote in the endorsement of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu ‘s proclamation of a state of emergency in Rivers State, was in line with the Senate’s rules.
The Senate and the House of Representatives had Thursday March 20, 2025, approved via voice vote, President Tinubu’s imposition of emergency rule in Rivers State and suspended Governor Siminalayi Fubara, his deputy, Prof. Ngozi Odu, and the 32 members of the state House of Assembly for an initial six months’ period and appointed retired Vice-Admiral Ibok-Ete Ibas as sole administrator.
The actions of the two chambers had been greeted with widespread umbrage with many knocking the Legislature for endorsing illegality. Even the presidential candidate of Imasuen’s Labour Party, Peter Obi, did not only vehemently condemn the endorsement, but upbraided the lawmakers for using voice vote in ratifying the proclamation.
Obi said the use of a voice vote in such crucial issue was an insult to Nigerians and a breach of the 1999 constitution. The former governor of Anambra State had in an open letter to the lawmakers ahead of the votes, appealed to them to take a “dispassionate look” at the matter and reject it “to save our democracy”.
But in an interview with journalists in Benin, Edo State, Senator Imasuen, who was permanently disbarred by the New York State Supreme Court in 2010 for fraud and gross professional misconduct, said the approval was done in unanimity without a single nay.
Carpeting critics of the Senate’s position, Imasuen contended that opposing everything the President brings to the National Assembly “is not a good politics”.
According to Imasuen, “You see, we have written books which guide us on how to behave on the floor of the house by affirming either by voice vote or hand vote. On this case, it was a voice vote, and it was unanimous and was the view of the Senate”.
Amid allegation of ineffective representation by some of his constituents, Imasuen, insisted that in the last two years, he had been able to impact positively, the lives of his people in the seven local government areas that make up his senatorial district.
He disclosed that bills for the establishment of a College of Agriculture in Edo State had passed first and second reading.
According to him, “In Oredo and Orhionmwon local government areas, we have done a lot in terms of provision of solar lights. Also, we have started a 2.1-kilometre road as we speak and a 3.5km road in Ovia North-East with drainage.
“We have a lot of impacting programmes such as the the (Gen Z ) girl-child event in Benin City, including education and training on traditional child bearing programmes in addition to the provision of palliatives”.