Uyo — Chairmen of major opposition parties invited to the Senate 2012 retreat holding in Uyo were yesterday absent at the opening ceremony.

The Senate had invited the national chairmen of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP), the Labour Party (LP) and the All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA) to the Akwa Ibom retreat.

When called to present their goodwill messages, they were all absent except PDP's Chairman Bamanga Tukur.

Attempts by Senators Mudashiru Husain (ACN, Osun West) and Domingo Ogembe (ACN, Edo) to proclaim the presence of a representative of their party, did not attract the moderator's attention.

Tukur, in his goodwill message, described security as everybody's business, saying "we must all rise up against all forms of lawlessness. The nation is being attacked by forces of evil whose objectives are not known.

Akwa Ibom State Governor Godswill Akpabio, in his welcome address, said there could be no legislation in the atmosphere of violence and sorrow.