Senate President Godswill Akpabio on Thursday apologised to Senator Adams Oshiomhole after a light-hearted exchange over past jokes, reaffirming their agreement to end public banter over previous controversies.
The exchange followed a remark by Akpabio during plenary that referenced a viral video Oshiomhole had earlier dismissed as an artificial intelligence-generated clip purportedly showing him massaging a woman’s legs aboard a private jet.
Rising on a point of order, Oshiomhole jokingly accused the Senate President of violating a mutual truce to refrain from revisiting past controversies.
“I want to report to this House that the Senate President and I signed a truce of no more hostilities, and the Senate President breached the truce,” Oshiomhole said, drawing laughter from fellow senators.
He added that although he had intended to invoke Order 72, he had decided to withdraw the matter, urging the Senate President to “protect vertically challenged people in the Senate.”
Responding, Akpabio apologised, saying he had no intention of offending the former Edo State governor.
“If whatever I said could have in any way injured him or inferred to offend him, I apologise,” Akpabio said.
He explained that his comment was made while responding to another senator’s reference to an earlier debate over a proposed warrant of arrest, during which Oshiomhole had made the “dead or alive” remark.
Akpabio acknowledged their agreement, saying, “Sorry, we have a truce. No more hostilities. Agreement is agreement.”
He assured lawmakers that he would refrain from making further references to past controversies and pledged to treat all senators fairly.
“I hold him in very high esteem. He is my brother, my friend and my colleague. This chair will protect every single senator,” he said.
The Senate President ended the exchange on a humorous note, saying he would not behave “like America and Iran, where they have an agreement today and two days later they bomb each other,” prompting laughter across the chamber.
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