Senator Adams Oshiomhole has accused Senate President Godswill Akpabio of having a personal interest in the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC).
Oshiomhole also alleged that Akpabio’s daughter benefited from a “juicy position” reportedly facilitated by former NNPC Group Chief Executive Officer, Mele Kyari.
The senator made this known while speaking on the Mic On Podcast hosted by Seun Okinbaloye, where he defended his earlier position on the Senate’s handling of investigative matters involving the NNPC and the issuance of a bench warrant against Kyari.
According to the former Edo State governor, the controversy surrounding the Senate’s actions had been distorted, insisting that his comments were personal opinions and not official Senate resolutions, while also alleging deep-rooted nepotism in Nigeria’s oil sector.
Oshiomhole directly accused the Senate President of benefiting personally from NNPC-linked appointments, claiming that Kyari gave Akpabio’s daughter preferential treatment.
He said: “Myself inclusive. The second is my response to the former chief financial controller of NNPC, whose tenure the investigation covers, who pointedly said to the committee that it is you people. And now I know that the Senate President said his daughter was taken by Mele Kyari and put in a, well as Nigerians we say, in a juicy position that he probably didn’t merit.”
He further argued that such practices are not isolated, but reflective of a broader pattern within the national oil company.
Oshiomhole expanded his criticism to systemic nepotism in NNPC, accusing past and present leadership of turning the organisation into a structure dominated by family connections.
He stated: “And so the senator in a general manner said, are you senators? Bring your children. And I said, well, you guys have turned NNPC to a traditional institution where the son inherits the throne of the father. They, past leaders of NNPC, they all have employed their children, their uncles, their cousins, their in-laws into various aspects of NNPC and put them in different positions.
“If they carry out the payroll of NNPC, you will find that they’ve turned the top level to a family business.”
Defending his broader position on recruitment practices, Oshiomhole insisted that the issue was not about relatives of public officials being employed, but whether due process and merit were followed.
He said: “And I said, frankly speaking, are the children of senators not Nigerians? You can only make an issue if you give them a job they did not merit, they are not qualified for, and you didn’t follow the right procedure. Well, somebody told me that the Senate president daughter was taking without, not through a regular interview, not through the normal, but that is his own problem.
“That is not the reason I will be there and somebody will accuse me. If I didn’t react in the manner that I did, I didn’t say the senate says you are a thief. I didn’t say the senate says the house of, sorry, the NNPC is a house of thieves.”
Oshiomhole also addressed controversy over the Senate’s reported disowning of the arrest warrant issued against former NNPC boss Mele Kyari, insisting that the legislative action was within constitutional powers.
He said: “So how can the Senate disown what they did say? That is not their resolution. I spoke as a person and if somebody thinks I have injured this reputation, there are legal means.”
He further referenced past remarks attributed to Akpabio regarding Senate committee powers.
“This same senate president is on record, and those records are everywhere, where he advises us or reminds us that when the committee sits, it’s like the minister is sitting, the chairman exercises the power of the senate president.”
Oshiomhole maintained that the Senate acted within its constitutional authority in issuing a bench warrant, insisting that such powers are well established under the 1999 Constitution (as amended).
He added: “We have the right to issue a bench warrant, and the good news I will forward to you is that somebody who has read this thing, many people who have commented, have somehow, I don’t know how they have this record, of all the people who have been, when the Senate had issued a bench warrant from time to time, previous Senate, based on the express provision of the 1999 constitution as amended, of which the senate president can decline to exercise his powers.”
“It will be up to him, but he cannot pronounce that what is in the constitution is irrelevant, nor can he lecture any senator about procedures, and I told him this.
“So now, you ask me a question whether I thought it was appropriate to issue a bench warrant? Yes.”
SaharaReporters previously reported that a dramatic session of the Senate Committee on Public Accounts last Wednesday descended into heated exchanges as Oshiomhole accused the NNPCL, declaring that the state-owned oil company had “no reputation” and that its reputation was “for fraud.”
Oshiomhole made the remarks while backing a motion calling for the arrest of former Group Chief Executive Officer of NNPCL, Kyari, over allegations that trillions of naira could not be accounted for during his tenure.
The former Edo State governor spoke during a tense committee session that focused on allegations of financial mismanagement and accountability issues involving the national oil company.
During an exchange with representatives of the former NNPCL chief and the corporation, Oshiomhole dismissed claims that Nigerians wanted employment opportunities in the company because of its reputation.
“NNPC has no reputation. Your reputation is for fraud. Can you see those? People want their children to be employed here,” Oshiomhole said.
“They want this. They want this. I can’t talk to them like that.
“Do you think we are children? Mr. Chairman, we need to make… No, wait, wait. Don’t do that. When the senator has the floor, please allow me to land.
“And I will land nicely. I listen. I hear you say people want their children to be employed in NNPC.
“Yes, because it’s a house of thieves. And they want their children to benefit from it. Yeah. So, let’s say those things.”
The senator insisted that the committee must adhere strictly to its constitutional responsibilities and not allow procedural excuses to prevent accountability.”
“We are all that combined and we cannot sit here and betray the very rules without which we can’t be here,” he said.
Oshiomhole further accused some public officials of acting as though they were bigger than the country itself.
“You know, I said so before, that there are some people who, because of the way in which the country and certain institutions have been run, they see themselves as bigger than Nigeria.
“I hold the view that the law is effective when it catches a lion, not when you detain a rat or a rabbit. A man who stole a rat or a rabbit,” he said.
“That is the crisis of Nigeria.”
The senator then called on the committee to immediately issue a warrant for Kyari’s arrest, arguing that allegations involving trillions of naira demanded urgent action.
“Mr. Chairman, this country must have the courage, the will to deploy its powers as enunciated in the Nigerian Constitution and issue warrant not tomorrow, today, and bring Mele Kyari even dead or alive in law,” he said.
“Even if he’s dead, we want to see the body. And it will account. Here lies a man who died without accounting for his alleged crime that rose into trillions of naira.
“We are not talking of billions of naira. At the time when the country is borrowing money, we have huge sums of money that have not been accounted for.
“There are serious issues not raised by laymen, raised by competent auditors, and the man is joking.”
