Institutional Warfare: Oshiomhole Accuses Senate President Akpabio of Shielding Ex-NNPCL Chief Mele Kyari Over Alleged Family Job Ties

ABUJA, NIGERIA — The National Assembly has been thrown into complete institutional turmoil following a direct, high-stakes confrontation between two political titans of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC). Senator Adams Oshiomhole, representing Edo North, has launched a blistering public assault against Senate President Godswill Akpabio, revealing a web of alleged favoritism, personal job ties, and systemic compromise that has completely fractured the credibility of the Red Chamber's ongoing investigation into the nation's oil cash cow.

​Appearing on a live episode of the highly influential MIC ON podcast following a heated plenary session, the fiercely outspoken former labor leader and Edo State Governor directly challenged the integrity of the Senate leadership. Oshiomhole explicitly alleged that Senate President Akpabio possesses deep-seated personal interests within the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL). Specifically, Oshiomhole claimed that Akpabio's biological daughter was quietly handed a lucrative, high-profile corporate position within the NNPCL by the embattled former Group Chief Executive Officer, Mele Kyari—an appointment the Senator argued she did not merit, but which was deployed as a calculated tactical bribe to buy executive protection from legislative oversight.

The volcanic fallout stems from an ongoing investigation handled by the Senate Committee on Public Accounts, chaired by Senator Ibrahim Dankwambo. The committee had been aggressively trailing Mele Kyari and the immediate-past management of the NNPCL over monumental financial irregularities highlighted by the Auditor-General for the Federation. The audit queries flag an astronomical N210 trillion in unresolved, disputed accounting entries spanning from 2017 to 2023. This includes N107 trillion in uncollected receivables and a separate N103 trillion in unverified operational expenses—funds the NNPCL top brass has repeatedly defended as standard, legitimate accounting adjustments. 

The confrontation escalated dramatically when Kyari systematically skipped nine consecutive statutory committee invitations, choosing instead to dispatch lower-level surrogates like Chief Financial Officer Umar Ajiya, who allegedly provoked lawmakers by questioning their patriotism and accusing senators of hunting for jobs. In a fierce legislative counter-strike, the Public Accounts Committee issued a bench warrant ordering security agencies to produce Kyari "dead or alive." During that explosive hearing, a defiant Oshiomhole launched into a furious tirade, corporate-profiling the state oil firm as "a bunch of criminals and a house of thieves." 

However, within 48 hours of the committee's hardline directive, the floor of the full Senate witnessed an aggressive intervention led by Senate Leader Opeyemi Bamidele and robustly backed by Senate President Akpabio. The Senate high command moved a swift motion to disown the arrest warrant, publicly rebuking Dankwambo's committee, declaring their warrant procedurally flawed under the Legislative Houses (Powers and Privileges) Act, and systematically scrubbing Oshiomhole's "unparliamentary" remarks from the official congressional record. Akpabio defended the intervention by stating that criminalizing the country's economic lifeblood would destroy foreign direct investment and jeopardize national survival. 

Refusing to be silenced or blackmailed by the executive override, Oshiomhole used his podcast appearance to state that a coordinated gang-up against his anti-corruption crusade would completely fail. He defiantly stood by his "house of thieves" remarks, asserting that he acted under intense provocation and challenged the Senate leadership to jail him if they pleased. As opposition elements launch fresh lawsuits under the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act to force an immediate public disclosure of the N210 trillion audit files, the unverified job-favoritism scandal has sparked severe panic across regional political networks, highlighting the deep, untamable tensions gripping the 10th Senate as power blocs begin a ruthless positioning war ahead of the 2027 general elections.