Senator Adams Oshiomhole has jokingly accused Senate President Godswill Akpabio of breaking the truce after the latter mentioned a past controversy involving the former Edo State governor.
The exchange occurred during plenary on Thursday, following Akpabio’s statement about an earlier viral video supposedly showing Oshiomhole stroking the legs of a South African woman aboard a private flight.
Oshiomhole characterized the video as artificial intelligence-generated, and Akpabio had previously made light-hearted remarks about the incident.
Raising a point of order, Oshiomhole informed the Senate that both lawmakers had promised not to make jokes about previous incidents, accusing Akpabio of violating the agreement.
“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…” Oshiomhole said amid laughter from lawmakers.
He added, “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.”
However, Oshiomhole stated that he would not take the matter any further and that he was abandoning his proposed action.
“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 apologized to Oshiomhole, stating he didn’t want to offend him with his comment.
“Let me, first of all, apologize to distinguished Senator Oshiomhole. If whatever I said could have in any way injured him or seemed to offend him,” Akpabio said.
Akpabio explained that his comment was in response to another senator’s reference to an earlier debate over the cancellation of a proposed warrant of arrest.
“I was responding to Senator Ogochi 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 accepted the agreement they made, saying, “Sorry, we have a truce.” No more hostilities. “Agreement means agreement.”
He told Oshiomhole that he would avoid bringing up previous controversies and that he would continue to protect all lawmakers.
“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.
The Senate President called Oshiomhole his brother, friend, and colleague, citing their previous ties as governors.
“I hold him in very high esteem. And I assure you that agreement is agreement,” he said.
Akpabio concluded the exchange with another joke, saying he would not behave like countries that break agreements shortly after signing 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, drawing laughter from the chamber.
