Hostilities cease, Akpabio offers regret as Oshiomhole revisits 'leg massage' remark

Somewhat tongue-in-cheek, Senator Adams Oshiomhole accused Senate President Godswill Akpabio of violating their agreement to cease making light of past controversies, following a remark by Akpabio that referenced a previous incident involving Oshiomhole.

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This exchange took place during a plenary session on Thursday, prompted by Akpabio's comment related to a viral video that appeared to show Oshiomhole massaging the legs of a South African woman on a private jet, which Oshiomhole had previously dismissed as artificially generated.

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Oshiomhole had been the subject of Akpabio's humorous comments regarding the incident, but he reminded the Senate that both lawmakers had agreed to put the matter to rest.

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Raising a point of order, Oshiomhole informed the Senate that he and Akpabio had a truce, which Akpabio had now breached by revisiting the controversy.

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Oshiomhole stated, "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 with a view to behaving like…", amidst laughter from lawmakers.

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He added, "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, so that is all I want to say."

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Oshiomhole decided not to pursue the matter further and announced that he was withdrawing his proposed action, saying "I am not going to read the order I am doing, Order 72, I hereby drop it."

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He concluded by asking the Senate President to protect "vertically challenged people in the Senate", before dropping the matter altogether.

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Akpabio responded by apologizing to Oshiomhole, stating that he had not intended to offend him with his comment, saying "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".

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The Senate President explained that his comment was in response to another senator's reference to a previous debate, and acknowledged the agreement between him and Oshiomhole, saying "Sorry, we have a truce, no more hostilities, agreement is agreement".

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Akpabio assured Oshiomhole that he would avoid further references to past controversies and would continue to protect all lawmakers, saying "I will never refer to the unsenatorial comment of bringing the man dead or alive, but I want to assure you that this chair will protect everyone, every single senator".

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Akpabio described Oshiomhole as his brother, friend, and colleague, and noted their previous relationship as governors, saying "I hold him in very high esteem, and I assure you that agreement is agreement".

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The Senate President ended the exchange on a lighthearted note, joking that he would not behave like countries that break agreements shortly after signing them, saying "I will not behave like America and Iran, when they have an agreement today and two days later they will bomb each other".