A mild drama played out on the floor of the Senate on Thursday after Senator Adams Oshiomhole accused Senate President Godswill Akpabio of violating a truce between them by revisiting an earlier controversy involving the Edo North lawmaker.
CityNews reports that the exchange came during deliberations on a motion over the persistent failure of some Government-Owned Enterprises and Ministries, Departments and Agencies to honour invitations from the Senate Committee on Finance.
The motion was sponsored by the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Finance, Senator Sani Musa, who raised concerns over the refusal of some agencies to appear before the committee in the course of legislative oversight.
Shortly after debate on the motion, Oshiomhole raised a point of order and accused Akpabio of going against an understanding they had reached to stop making references to previous disputes involving one another.
Oshiomhole’s objection followed a remark by Akpabio alluding to a viral video controversy which purportedly showed the former Edo State governor massaging the legs of a South African woman aboard a private jet.
Oshiomhole had previously dismissed the footage as artificially generated.
Addressing the chamber, he said he and Akpabio had agreed to put an end to such exchanges.
“I want to report to this House that the Senate President and I signed a truce of no more hostilities, and the Senate President breached the truce by reverting to a previous matter with a view to behaving like…” he said.
As lawmakers laughed, Oshiomhole continued, “So I told Mr Senate President, the truce is signed. You should not violate; I will not violate.
“You are my brother. You are my brother. You are my leader. You are my president. So that is all I want to say.”
The former governor, however, said he would not press the matter further.
“I am not going to read the order I am doing. Order 72, I hereby drop it. Just to say, sir, protect vertically challenged people in the Senate. Thank you, sir,” he added.
Akpabio Apologises
Responding, Akpabio apologised to Oshiomhole, saying his earlier comment was not intended to cause offence.
“Let me, first of all, apologise to distinguished Senator Oshiomhole. If whatever I said could have in any way injured him or inferred to offend him,” Akpabio said.
The Senate President explained that the remark came while he was responding to Senator Ogoshi Onawo, who had referred to an earlier debate concerning the cancellation of a proposed warrant of arrest.
“I was responding to Senator Ogoshi when he referred to the issue that we cancelled the proposed warrant of arrest. Which at that time, distinguished Senator Oshiomhole said we should bring the man dead or alive,” he said.
Akpabio then acknowledged the agreement between them.
“Sorry, we have a truce. No more hostilities. Agreement is agreement,” he said.
He assured Oshiomhole that the Senate leadership would continue to protect every member of the chamber and avoid further references to their past exchanges.
“I will never refer to the unsenatorial comment of bringing the man dead or alive. But I want to assure you that this chair will protect everyone, every single senator,” Akpabio said.
He described Oshiomhole as a brother, friend and colleague, recalling that both men had previously served as state governors.
“I hold him in very high esteem. And I assure you that agreement is agreement,” he added.
Akpabio later drew further laughter from senators when he joked that he would not behave like countries that sign agreements and subsequently violate them.
“I will not behave like America and Iran. When they have an agreement today, and two days later they will bomb each other,” he said.
Senate Threatens Action Against Defaulting Agencies
Earlier, Onawo, while contributing to Musa’s motion, urged the Senate to exercise its constitutional powers against officials who repeatedly refuse to honour legislative invitations.
He cited Section 89(1)(d) of the 1999 Constitution, as amended, which empowers the National Assembly to issue warrants compelling the attendance of persons who refuse to appear after being summoned.
Onawo argued that the Senate should first formally communicate with defaulting agencies before invoking its constitutional powers where necessary.
Akpabio had also warned that the Senate could no longer continue to complain about the refusal of agency heads to appear before committees without taking decisive action.
“If any committee reports that the head of an agency has refused to appear, the Senate can invite that person to appear before the whole Senate. If the individual still refuses to appear, we will exercise our constitutional powers to compel attendance,” he said.
Onawo also urged the chamber to examine its own handling of previous cases where officials ignored invitations without consequences.
He cited the recent failure of officials of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) and the National Sports Commission (NSC) to appear before the Senate Committee on Sports as an example of what he described as growing disregard for legislative summons.
