Senator Adams Oshiomhole has made claims that senators in the 10th Senate are displeased with the leadership style of the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio.
Oshiomhole made the statements on the Sunday edition of MIC ON PODCAST amid rising tensions in the Senate over his recent comments against the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited.
The lawmaker representing Edo North also claimed that Akpabio is suspicious of him.
“Senators are grumbling about his style of leadership. But we try to manage, and I’ve tried to assure him that ‘Look, Mr. Senate President, I am a very fulfilled person,” he said.
Despite his contributions to the ruling All Progressives Congress and President Bola Tinubu’s electoral victory, the former governor of Edo State claims Akpabio has an irrational bias against him.
He said, “Don’t forget that I was a founding governor of the APC and deputy DG of the Bola Tinubu Campaign Council that gave us victory. I’m not saying I am responsible for the victory, but I worked for it, and I’m happy we got it.
“He (Akpabio) is so paranoid about anything that has to do with me. Everybody in the Senate knows that if Senator Akpabio has his way, he will lock me out of the Senate because he has misled himself into thinking that I am probably the devil he knows. There are many angels he doesn’t know,” he said.
The senator also projected that the future Senate leadership structure would be drastically different from the current one, noting growing unhappiness among lawmakers.
“The 11th Senate will not be like the 10th; this I can say. It can’t be. Senators are grumbling about his style of leadership. But we try to manage, and I’ve tried to assure him that ‘Look, Mr. Senate President, I am a very fulfilled person.’
“Whatever job I am given to do, I ask God to give me courage and even greater wisdom to do that job to the satisfaction of my constituents. The Senate President’s bias against me is very well known. I will not join in speculating as to the reason for his bias,” he stated.
Continuing, Oshiomhole claimed that Akpabio regularly feels nervous while interacting with some senators, citing an encounter with Senator Abdulaziz Yari as an example.
He said, “Many people in the Senate know. In fact, if I go around the floor of the Senate and I go greet certain persons and we have conversations, the man becomes uncomfortable. I will give you an instance.
“Senator Yari approached the Senate President and said that he wanted to be the vice-chairman of the Senate Committee on the Interior. I am the chairman of the Senate Committee on Interior.
“The Senate President said to him, ‘So you want to join Senator Oshiomhole to plan how to remove me as Senate President? But I just laugh it off.”
According to him, the Senate President is “first among equals” and remains subject to the collective will of senators.
“If you understand the way the Senate works, the Senate president is first among equals. Only the persons favored by the senators are elected.
“Remember, if Senator Yari had gotten the majority, he could have become the Senate president. It is not about what anybody wishes. It is about who the senators want,” he warned.
The remarks come only days after the Senate formally distanced itself from Oshiomhole’s depiction of the NNPCL as “a bunch of criminals and thieves,” claiming that the comments were his personal opinions, not those of the Red Chamber.
Last week, the Senate passed a motion sponsored by Senate Leader Opeyemi Bamidele that clarified that no Senate committee has the authority to issue, authorize, or execute an arrest warrant without strict compliance with the Legislative Houses (Powers and Privileges) Act and the express approval of the Senate president.
The resolution came after allegations that the Senate Committee on Public Accounts had suggested issuing an arrest warrant for former NNPCL Group CEO Mele Kyari for allegedly failing to respond to committee invitations.
