The lockhorns is not yet over as Senator Adams Oshiomhole has alleged that Senate President Godswill Akpabio once accused Senator Abdul’aziz Yari of plotting with him to remove Akpabio as Senate President.
Oshiomhole made the claim while speaking on what he described as Akpabio’s “bias” and “paranoia” toward him in the 10th Senate.
According to Oshiomhole, Yari had approached Akpabio to become Vice Chairman of the Senate Committee on Interior, which Akpabio chairs.
Oshiomhole said, quoting Akpabio’s alleged response to Yari: “So you want to join Senator Oshiomhole to be planning how to remove me as Senate President?”
Oshiomhole said he understands why some people are trying to destroy his image and paint him as a controversial figure. He added that in Akpabio’s “narrow calculation,” the Senate President believes he has projected Oshiomhole in the worst possible light.
He said Akpabio appears so “paranoid” about him that “everybody in the Senate knows that if Akpabio had his way, he would lock him out of the Senate” because he sees Oshiomhole as “the devil he knows” while suspecting other unknown agents.
Oshiomhole stated that Akpabio does not seem to appreciate that leadership of institutions, including the Senate and Nigeria’s Presidency, “is in the hands of God and not in the hands of man.”
He said what pains him is that Akpabio has forgotten his role as a founding governor of the APC and Deputy Director-General of Bola Tinubu’s presidential campaign. “I am not claiming responsibility for the victory, but I worked for it and was happy we won,” he said.
The Edo North senator claimed the 10th Senate cannot be like the 3rd Senate because senators are grumbling about Akpabio’s style of leadership, “although they are trying to manage the situation.”
He said he has repeatedly assured Akpabio that he is a “fulfilled person” with modest expectations, recalling that he never planned to become even a councillor. Oshiomhole traced his rise to leadership of the Nigeria Labour Congress, where he opposed forming the Labour Party, arguing that unions should remain neutral and hold politicians accountable.
Oshiomhole maintained that Akpabio’s bias against him is “very well known,” but he will not join others in speculating on the reasons. He claimed Akpabio gets uncomfortable whenever he greets or holds conversations with certain senators on the Senate floor.
He concluded that whenever he is given any position, he asks God not just for the job but for “courage and greater wisdom to perform the duty to the satisfaction of my constituents.”
