Senator Ishaku Elisha Abbo has accused Senate President Godswill Akpabio of running the Nigerian Senate like a personal empire and targeting senators who oppose his views.
Speaking on Arise TV on Wednesday, Abbo claimed that Akpabio orchestrated the removal of five senators, including himself.
The former Adamawa North senator alleged that Akpabio had privately informed him of the planned ousting.
“He told me that five senators would be removed. I asked how he knew, and he said, ‘I am the Senate President. I know.’ True to his words, five of us were removed. I had no idea that I was one of them,” Abbo stated.
Abbo, who supported Senator Abdulaziz Yari’s bid for Senate President, said Akpabio attempted to win him over with personal appeals and financial incentives.
“He came to my hotel room around 2 AM, asking for my support. I told him I was already committed to Yari. Later, at a meeting at Transcorp Hilton, $10,000 was being distributed, but I refused to take any money,” he said.
He further accused Akpabio of denying him travel reimbursements, blocking his participation in an international parliamentary assignment, and withholding his official vehicle after he was removed from office.
“Every other senator who was removed by the courts got their vehicles, but I was excluded. This is the level of vindictiveness displayed by Akpabio,” he said.
He said, “Now, let’s look at Senator Ali Ndume. When he raised concerns about the way things were being run in the Senate, he was removed as Chief Whip and stripped of his position as Vice Chairman of the Senate Committee on Appropriations.
“I also moved a motion to amend the Senate Standing Rules so that only senators who had served at least one term could contest for Senate leadership. But what did Akpabio do? He rewrote the rules to allow first-term senators to become leaders of both the majority and minority caucuses—just so he could control them.
“Do you know that in Akpabio’s house, senators serve him tea?”
“Well, I am telling you now. And I told him, ‘You are no longer a governor. These senators are our colleagues, not your commissioners. They are not here to serve you tea,’” Abbo alleged.
“I have always defended the integrity of the Senate. The issue is the leadership, not the institution itself.”
