- Safiu Kehinde
Nigerian businessman and founder of Stanbic IBTC Bank, Atedo Peterside, has faulted the usage of voice-vote by the Senate’s in approving the state of emergency in Rivers.
Peterside, in reaction to the voting method’s disapproval by Abuja lawmaker, Senator Ireti Kinigbe, held that voice-vote is not valid method for recording a two-thirds majority over such critical situation.
The businessman’s reaction was contained in a post shared on his X handle on Saturday.
While commending Kinigbe and other lawmakers who rejected the voice-vote, Peterside harped on the need for leaders to embrace credibility in decision-making process.
“I would like to commend Senator @IretiKingibe and a handful of other law makers who stood firm in rejecting a voice-vote because it is not a valid method for recording a two-thirds majority.
“Everything that proper leaders do should be seen to credible.” He wrote.
NPO Reported that the National Assembly had on Thursday approved President Bola Tinubu’s state of emergency declaration in Rivers.
The Senate and the House of Representatives had both adopted voice-vote during their plenary sessions on Thursday.
However, unlike the House of Representatives, the Senate held the voting in a closed-session with the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, announcing the outcome after the exercise.
The adoption of the voice-vote by the Assembly had, however, been strongly condemned by the public and opposition lawmakers including Ireti Kinigbe.