Former Adamawa North Senator Ishaku Elisha Abbo has accused Senate President Godswill Akpabio of running the Nigerian Senate like a personal empire and targeting lawmakers who oppose his leadership.
Abbo, who spoke while featuring on Arise News programme, PrimeTime show, on Wednesday night, alleged that Akpabio orchestrated the removal of senators who did not align with him. “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,” he stated.
Recalling the events leading up to Akpabio’s election as Senate President, Abbo claimed he rejected Akpabio’s request for support. “When I won election into the 10th Senate, I became the de facto DG campaign to Senator Abdulaziz Yari. He (Akpabio) came to my hotel room around 2 AM, asking for my support. I told him I was already committed to Yari and wished him good luck,” he said.
Abbo further alleged that financial inducements were offered to senators to support Akpabio. “At a meeting at Transcorp Hilton, $10,000 was being distributed, but I refused to take any money,” he revealed.
The former senator also accused Akpabio of denying him certain privileges after his removal. “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 also pointed to the case of Senator Ali Ndume, alleging that Akpabio sidelined him for challenging the Senate’s leadership.
He said, “Now, let’s look at Senator Ali Ndume. He was the DG to Akpabio. 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.”
