By Abdu Labaran Malumfashi
11-5-2025.
A former leader of the country once stated that the present Senate (10th) of the (Nigerian) National Assembly (NASS) was the worst ever in the current Republic (4th). That is as it may be for him, since he is entitled to his opinion, right or wrong.
Nevertheless, I completely agree with that claim, and nothing made me believe so but the fact that the so called President of the Nigerian Senate, Godswill Akpabio, is still on his seat as the leader of the NASS, while a Nigerian Court of Appeal in Akpabio’s home state of Akwa Ibom, has sent the Independent Electoral (INEC) Commissioner, Professor Peter Ogban, to prison. The INEC electoral commissioner had declared Akpabio as a duly elected Senator representing Akwa Ibom North West Senatorial District, whereas he (Akpabio) was alleged not to have even contested the election. The malfeasance by the professor, which is an offence (guilty of false declaration), punishable with imprisonment, landed him in prison for a three-year sentence.
I have NEVER seen the Senate President now or when he was the governor of Akwa Ibom State. I however, came to hear about him on three other occasions, and on each occasion I heard a very unedifying tale about him. Mine is therefore not a hate observation in this time of extreme existence, occasioned by the absence of the benefit of good governance in the country.
I once wrote an article on 18-11-2024, in which I asked the question ‘What Does Akpabio, The Senate President, Want In 2027? In the write up, one Mr. Jackson Udeh, accused “the Senate President of padding the 2024/25 budget (of N25.7 trillion) presented to the Nigerian Senate by President Tinubu, by a mind boggling amount of N687 billion.
“A lady Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of NDDC also alleged that the Senate President, apart from bringing many companies to front for him for contracts, was a rabid bigot, who wanted her to sack her the Financial Controller for no reason other than the fact that he was a Northerner. She further alleged that she got the sack from the job because she refused his many requests.
“On his X account, the famed Charlie Boy, alias Area Fada, once joked about Akpabio as one of the three worst politicians from the South of the country. He claimed that the imposition of Tinubu on Nigeria as President, was ‘Yoruba’s revenge for the North’s Buhari. “Northerners think they have the monopoly of sending their worst leader to rule Nigeria; they gave us Buhari. Yoruba gave them Tinubu and transaction was successful. Aura for Aura. Failure to counter failure.
“In the next transaction, if North like, let them give us Ganduje or Matawalle! No problem. The Southerners will reserve Uzodimma, Ikpeazu or Akpabio to reciprocate. Our SHEGE pass their BANZA. Do me I do you man no go vex, Dia fathers”.
“To think that a person who still has a serious case of graft against him, is today the number three (3) man in Nigeria, says a hell lot about the type of politics we play, and leaders we have, in the country.
“The pioneer chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Malam Nuhu Ribadu, who is today the National Security Adviser (NSA), accused Akpabio, then immediate former governor of Akwa Ibom State and a host of others, who are also in high places, of grossing mismanagement of the Commonwealth entrusted to him as the Governor of Akwa Ibom State.
“Whereas its very CORRUPT politicians, very CORRUPT security heads and very CORRUPT judges, as well as COMPROMISED media and religious heads, are swimming in obscene luxury financed by the commonwealth, which is used, misused and abused by the leaders. These have become the reason for their do-or-attitude to acquire power. Unfortunately, Nigeria is now saddled with such people parading themselves as leaders, while in actual fact they are but self serving rulers.
To show the seriousness of the matter, and its impracticality in saner climes, some 56 prominent Civil Society Organisations called on the Senate President to step aside from office, maintaining that it is the only sensible and decent thing to do, since the appellate court sitting in Calabar has upheld “the three-year prison sentence earlier handed to Professor Ogban”.
The CSOs said in a statement made available to newsmen that, “the ruling raises serious concern about the legitimacy of Senator Akpabio’s mandate”, adding that “it is deeply troubling that the election which brought him to the Senate has now been judicially confirmed to have been manipulated”.
The organisations further noted that “while Senator Akpabio has denied personal involvement in the fraud, conviction of the very official who declared him the winner casts a dark shadow over the credibility of that election”, insisting that “for the sake of public confidence, the rule of law, and the integrity of Nigeria’s democratic institutions, Senator Akpabio MUST temporarily VACATE his position until the matter is CONCLUSIVELY addressed”.
The groups raised a very germane question to the effect that “having been a confirmed beneficiary of electoral fraud in the 2019 election to the 9th Senate which he did not complete due to his appointment as Minister of the Niger Delta, did Senator Akpabio have the legal or moral standing to CONTEST for a seat in the 10th National Assembly, let alone serve as its PRESIDENT?
“This is not about one individual. It is about restoring public trust in our electoral process. Allowing the Senate President to remain in office under such serious ethical questions undermines democratic values and sends a dangerous signal ahead of the 2027 general elections”, the organisations still added.
It is therefore, in the interest of Nigeria that Godswill Akpabio leaves his undeserved Senate seat, and the upper chamber as a whole peaceful, or have himself disgraced forcibly. Most of the citizens are tired of seeing his corrupt mug, referring to the owner as the number three (3) person in the country.
In sane climes, where service is to and for the people, Akpabio should have done as he once promised to do, ‘step down’ from his lofty position as the President of the Senate, and allow for an unfettered investigation. He could come back to the position if found to be innocent of the crime he is accused of committing. If, on the other hand, he is found guilty as accused, then he should not only resign from the Nigerian Senate, the law should also be allowed to take its course on him.
The biological mother of Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, who represents Kogi Central Senatorial District in the Nigerian Senate, came from Ukraine, where they do not tolerate such hanky funky things which are the normal practices on these shores. The unspeakable things are the normal cases in Nigeria. Hence the insistence by the Kogi State Senator to have her name cleared, not to have more illegal loot to her name.
The same way that the former Special Adviser (SA) on Media to the President, Mr. Ajuri Ngelale, voluntarily resigned from the Tinubu government to, allegedly, ‘take care of his health’. Voluntary resignation is an unheard of thing in Nigeria. But Mr. Ajuri’s biological mother is from Germany, a Western European country that tolerates no corruption from the political leaders whatever their standing may be.
Some hungry spoilers were even rented to sign a petition of recall against Senator Natasha, which they did try but failed woefully. They were unaware that it is their paymaster who would eventually be forced to leave the place he is illegally ‘working’ and eating (insatiably) from.
Nigeria needs her own Ibrahim Traore to rid this CORRUPT lot away from these shores, so that ALL her citizens would be able to ‘breathe’ safely, without the fear of being arrested for doing what they know nothing about.
May God NEVER EVER give such CORRUPT and ROTTEN people the CHANCE to rule Nigeria AGAIN, in whatever guise they may appear.
Malumfashi wrote from Katsina.
