Senate President Godswill Akpabio on Thursday apologised to Adams Oshiomhole, senator representing Edo north, for describing one of the ex-governor’s previous remarks as “unsenatorial”.
The exchange occurred during plenary, after Akpabio made a passing reference to Oshiomhole’s earlier “dead or alive” comment in connection with Mele Kyari, ex-group chief executive officer of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC).
BACKGROUND
On June 10, Oshiomhole supported a motion during a sitting
of the senate committee on public accounts, concerning issuing a warrant of
arrest against Kyari over his repeated failure to appear before the committee,
saying he should be brought in “dead or alive”.
The day after, Opeyemi Bamidele, senate leader, moved a
motion on the floor of the senate distancing the chamber from any warrant of
arrest against Kyari.
Bamidele also criticised Oshiomhole over his take on the
subject.
In a subsequent podcast appearance, Oshiomhole alleged that
Akpabio influenced the employment of his daughter at the NNPC.
He also accused the senate president of harbouring bias
against him and suggested that Akpabio would gladly shut him out of the chamber
if handed the opportunity.
Akpabio reignited the feud on July 16 when he referred to a
previous controversy involving the former Edo governor.
The senate president referenced an earlier viral video that
purportedly showed Oshiomhole massaging the legs of a lady on a private jet.
OSHIOMHOLE ACCUSES AKPABIO OF BREACHING TRUCE
Raising a point of order, Oshiomhole jokingly accused the
senate president of breaching a truce they had reached to stop making
light-hearted references to each other’s past controversies.
“I want to report to this house that the senate president
and I, we signed a truce of no more hostilities. And the senate president
breached the truce by reverting to a previous matter,” Oshiomhole said.
“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 leader.
You are my president.”
The Edo north senator, however, said he would not pursue 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,” he said, eliciting laughter from the chamber.
Responding, Akpabio apologised, saying he had no intention
of offending Oshiomhole.
“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,” he said.
The Senate President reaffirmed the agreement between both
lawmakers.
“Sorry, we have a truce. No more hostilities. Agreement is
agreement. I will never refer to your comments as unsenatorial again,
especially when you said, ‘bring the man dead or alive’. The truce between us
remains upheld,” he said.
He described Oshiomhole as his brother, friend and former
colleague in the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF).
“I hold him in very high esteem. And I assure you that
agreement is agreement. I will not behave like America and Iran. When they have
an agreement today, and two days later they will bomb each other,” he added.
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