News
Senator Godswill Akpabio: 63 years of enduring impact
By
Rt Hon Eseme Eyiboh mnipr
On this ninth day of December, in the year 2025, as the nation stirs to its familiar rhythm, a man stands quietly at the crossroads of personal milestone and public memory. Senator Godswill Obot Akpabio, GCON, marks his 63rd year on earth—another turn on the wheel of time for a figure whose shadow has long stretched across the public life of Nigeria.
He was born in Ukana Ikot Ntuen, Essien Udim—one of those villages where the future rarely announces itself with trumpets, but where the soil has a way of preparing men for the long, hard disciplines of service. His childhood was shaped by the steady lessons of Methodist Primary School, the formative rigour of the Federal Government College, Port Harcourt, and later the University of Calabar, where he earned a law degree that would become less a credential than a compass.
Before politics found him—or before he found politics—Akpabio walked several honest roads: teacher, lawyer, partner, corporate executive. These were not glamorous roles, but they were instructive. They taught him something about the dignity of work, the stubbornness of hope, and the slow grind through which a man discovers his convictions.
Then came public office—a chapter not whispered into existence, but written in the bold script of infrastructure, reform, and unyielding ambition. As Governor of Akwa Ibom State from 2007 to 2015, he presided over the kind of transformation that does not happen quietly. Roads carved through old terrains; bridges defeated rivers long thought unconquerable; an airport rose from the red earth; a stadium stood like a declaration that the people had reclaimed their sense of possibility. And in classrooms and hospitals, thousands felt the soft but decisive undertones of free education and accessible healthcare. They called him “The Uncommon Transformer,” not because the phrase was fashionable, but because it was true.
His path then led to the 9th Senate of the Federal Republic, where he got swift the recognition of his peers in the main opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), who made him the Minority Leader of the Senate. Characteristic of Akpabio – whose name has come to connote excellence – he played the role admirably until the need for a better deal for his constituents made him to defect to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
Akpabio was to take a break from the Senate following his appointment as a Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, where he confronted a region often defined by contradiction—rich in resources, poor in infrastructure; blessed with talent, burdened by history. And yet, under his watch, a symbol of bureaucratic paralysis finally gave way: the long-delayed NDDC Headquarters was completed and inaugurated, its doors swinging open after nearly two decades of excuses.
Back in the Senate and now as President of the 10th Senate, Akpabio’s leadership is marked by something rarer than rhetoric: steadiness. The kind of steadiness that can hold a chamber together in times of partisan whirlwinds; that can encourage cooperation with the Executive without surrendering oversight; that can restore a sense of rhythm to national budgeting after years of drift. In just two years, the Senate under his watch has moved decisively—reforming education laws, modernizing taxation, strengthening regional development, and pushing for genuine autonomy for local governments.
Twice, his colleagues have risen—unprovoked—to pass a vote of confidence in him. In politics, such gestures are not born of sentiment; they are earned by the invisible arithmetic of trust.
On the global stage, he achieved what had eluded Nigeria for six decades: a seat on the Executive Committee of the Inter-Parliamentary Union. It was more than an election; it was a restoration of presence, a reminder that nations are not only heard when they speak loudly, but when they speak with clarity and purpose.
The honours that have followed him—from “Best Governor in Africa” to “Man of the Year,” from national decorations to continental recognition—are footnotes, not the story. The story is simpler, older, and more enduring: a man who has spent much of his life in the public square, pushing institutions toward competence, and people toward hope.
And so, on this 63rd birthday, the occasion invites not celebration but reflection—reflection on a life that suggests that public office, when handled with vigour and imagination, can still be a noble calling. It is also an invitation to look forward. For the work of nation-building is never finished, and the ideals that have guided Senator Godswill Akpabio—unity, inclusiveness, good governance, and development—remain as necessary today as when he first stepped into the arena.
As Edward R. Murrow would say, “This is not the end of the story. Only another nightfall on the long road of a man still in service to his country”.
•Rt. Hon. Eseme Eyiboh is Special Adviser, Media / Publicity & Official Spokesperson for The President of The Senate.
A Rivers High Court sitting in Oyigbo Local Government Area has stepped into the escalating political crisis in the state, issuing an interim injunction that temporarily halts further action on the impeachment process against Governor Siminalayi Fubara and his deputy, Ngozi Nma-Odu.
In a ruling delivered in Port Harcourt, the court restrained the Speaker of the Rivers State House of Assembly, Martin Amaewhule, alongside thirty-two other defendants — including the Clerk of the House and the Chief Judge of Rivers State—from taking steps aimed at advancing the impeachment process.
Specifically, the order barred the Chief Judge, Justice Simeon Chibuzor-Amadi, from receiving, forwarding, considering, or acting on any request, resolution, or impeachment-related document from the Assembly for the purpose of constituting an investigative panel, pending the determination of the matter. The injunction is to subsist for seven days.
In the two suits—marked OYHC/7/CS/2026 and OYHC/6/CS/2026—the court also granted the claimants leave to serve the interim order and other originating processes on the first to the thirty-first defendants by pasting them at the gate of the Rivers State Assembly quarters.
The court also directed that the Chief Judge, listed as the 32nd defendant, be served through any staff of the judiciary at his chambers within the court premises.
Justice Fiberesima thereafter adjourned the matter to January 23, 2026, for hearing of the motion on notice, as the legal battle over the impeachment move shifts from the political arena to the courtroom.
On Friday, the Rivers State House of Assembly had called on the Chief Judge of the state to set up a panel to investigate the allegations of gross misconduct against Governor Fubara and his deputy.
The assembly members, who made the call through a unanimous vote, vowed to continue with the impeachment process.
The lawmakers had earlier addressed a press conference in Port Harcourt, where they accused Fubara of allegedly using blackmail.
Addressing journalists, the deputy speaker, Dumle Maol, claimed Fubara lacked the trust needed to address the crisis rocking the oil-rich state.
They accused the governor of infringing on the 1999 Constitution, saying the parliament was left with no other choice but to apply their legislative power by impeaching him from office.
The lawmakers also claimed the governor and his deputy had resorted to intimidating the parliament.
They, however, thanked President Bola Tinubu for wading into the crisis.
The members also called on the Speaker, Martin Amaewhule, to reconvene the House.
Their position came weeks after they initiated an impeachment process against Fubara and Odu. The lawmakers are accusing them of gross negligence, a move that has heightened political tension in the coastal state.
No amount of intervention or pleading will mitigate the case of Siminalayi Fubara at this stage regarding the determination to impeach him, members of the Rivers State House of Assembly, vowed on Friday, as they opened a new chapter in the ongoing onslaught against the state governor.
Against the backdrop of what appeared like a lull when they failed to sit on Thursday for the same purpose, the members on their return, hinged the blame to go on with the action on the alleged intransigence of Fubara to retrace his step.
For this reason, the called on the state Chief Judge to set up the panel of investigation to look into the allegations of gross misconduct levied against Fubara and his deputy, Ngozi Odu.
Conveying their decision which came in form of a unanimous vote, the assembly members, who vowed to continue with the impeachment process, stressed that no amount of intimidation, blackmail or intervention would stop them this time – the third in the impeachment approach, which was first initiated in November 2023.
Dumle Maol, Deputy Speaker, had earlier told reporters that Fubara lacked the trust needed to address the crisis rocking the oil-rich state, accusing him of multiple infringement on the 1999 Constitution, which left the house with no other choice but to apply their legislative power.
Accusing the governor and his deputy of resorting to intimidation of the parliament, including the dropping of the name of President Bola Tinubu, they thanked the President for wading into the crisis in order to find a solution, but regrated that his efforts were stalled by the same Fubara.
If Peter Obi had mobilised Nigerians against those who rigged him out of the presidential election in 2023, his mandate given to him by the electorate would have been intact and he would have been President today.
This was the contention of Yusuf Datti Baba-Ahmed, who ran with the former Governor of Anambra State, as vice-presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP) in the 2023 elections, where Obi was the presidential candidate.
Datti-Ahmed, in an interview currently going viral on social media, told his hosts that anyone seeking to defeat President Bola Tinubu must not rely on the court process but resistance, using Nigerians as was done in the June 12, 1993 election saga against the military.
The outing on Nigeria Right Now, uploaded on YouTube on Thursday, quoted the politician, formerly Senator representing Kaduna Central at the National Assembly, as stating that he made this much clear to Obi, that the judiciary could not resolve the fundamental breaches of the constitution perpetrated by the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the last elections.
Hear him: “I told Peter Obi – Supreme Court cannot give you governor and give you presidency. For God’s sake, stand up and do something. The Nigerian Constitution was clearly breached.
“The Nigerian constitution was clearly breached; section 134 2b. It couldn’t be any clearer. Now, if it was June 12 people, and you breached not just the constitution but just one punctuation in their interest, I swear to God, nobody will sleep. They will take it.
“As much as I dislike the fact that they are using the Nigerian constitution, you must give it to them; they fight for their interest. They can organise rallies and can keep it up for three decades. And you are saying, ‘Let’s go to court; let’s go to court.’
“Whoever is going to defeat Tinubu must be ready to, I will use the word, ‘red eye’. You must show your red eyes because on that day that they are declaring the results, the people declaring fake results are criminals, and those who are stopping the declaration of fake results are good citizens. Whoever is going to defeat Tinubu must show red eyes… there’s no going to court.”
In the 2003 Anambra governorship election, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) declared Chris Ngige of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) the winner, but Obi, candidate of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), challenged the result and was later affirmed governor by the court of appeal in March 2006.
Similarly, in 2023, Obi challenged Tinubu’s victory, the APC presidential candidate, but his appeal was dismissed up to the supreme court level.
Court halts move to impeach Fubara *Orders CJ to tarry on panel
Impeachment: Do your job, Rivers assembly tells CJ *Insist Fubara must go
Rigging: I warned Obi that judicial option in 2023 won’t work – Datti
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