Senator Adams Oshiomhole has never been one to bite his tongue, and yesterday in the red chamber he proved it again. The former Edo governor stood up, looked Senate President Godswill Akpabio in the eye, and declared: “I am not a rubber stamp senator.” The words hung in the air like smoke from a village hearth, thick with the weight of a man who once led labour marches and now sits in the nation’s highest legislative seat.
Oshiomhole’s grievance is simple but sharp. He is troubled—deeply—by what he sees as the Senate’s growing habit of nodding through executive bills without proper scrutiny. “We are here to make laws, not to echo the villa,” he said, his voice steady but edged with the frustration of a man who has fought too many battles to accept surrender now. The bone of contention? A string of money bills and supplementary budgets rushed through committee of supply with barely a whisper of debate.
Sources close to the senator say he has been nursing this concern for weeks, poring over clauses late into the night, marking sections that smell of executive overreach. Yesterday, he could hold it no longer. When Akpabio moved to fast-track yet another bill, Oshiomhole rose on a point of order. “Mr President, I respect the office, but I will not respect any attempt to turn this Senate into a conveyor belt for pre-cooked laws.”
The chamber fell quiet. Even the usually restless gallery leaned forward. Akpabio, ever the smooth operator, smiled and acknowledged the point, but the message was clear: Oshiomhole is drawing a line in the sand. Colleagues whisper that this is only the beginning. The man who once shut down factories with a single whistle now wants to shut down legislative complacency—one clause at a time.
For now, the Senate moves on. But Oshiomhole’s words linger, a reminder that even in the marbled halls of power, some fires still burn.
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