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Akpabio sets the tone as Tenth Senate enters final stretch

Published

4 months ago

January 31, 2026

Whirlwindnews

By Rt Hon Eseme Eyiboh, mnipr

There are moments in a nation’s life when institutions are reminded—quietly but unmistakably—that time does not negotiate with comfort. Nigeria’s Senate, returning from the conviviality of Christmas recess and New Year reflection to the discipline of plenary, has arrived at such a moment. The period of acclimatization has passed. The era of testing intentions is over. What remains is a phase in which time asserts itself, when the calendar ceases to be a backdrop and becomes an active force in governance.

When the President of the Senate, Godswill Obot Akpabio, rose to welcome colleagues back to the chamber in early 2026, he spoke with an ease that respected ceremony while remaining alert to consequence. The tone was cordial but unsentimental; reflective without wandering. Beneath the courtesy was a clear intimation that the Tenth Senate had crossed from the comfort of beginnings into the gravity of its defining phase.

He began where seriousness often takes root—not with policy, but with people. The recess, he reminded senators, was not an escape from accountability but an extension of it: time spent among constituents, re-engaging voices that do not echo within the chamber, absorbing frustrations that do not arrive neatly packaged as memoranda, and reconnecting with the human weight behind legislative abstractions. In doing so, Akpabio quietly reaffirmed representation as a lived obligation rather than a procedural formality.

The Senate, however, resumed its work under the shadow of loss. The death of Senator Godiya Akwashiki during the recess lent the chamber a gravity that could not be ignored. Akpabio’s tribute was spare, almost austere, and for that reason it carried weight. He spoke of diligence, humility, and responsibility—not as ornament, but as the unobtrusive virtues that prevent institutions from emptying themselves of meaning. The moment of silence that followed served as a reminder that democracy rests not only on arithmetic and procedure, but on the moral character of those entrusted to serve.

The address then widened its lens to the nation beyond the chamber. Nigeria, Akpabio observed, did not pause while the Senate recessed. Economic pressures persisted. Security challenges endured. Social demands intensified. Yet threaded through this catalogue of strain was a firm insistence on resilience. Nigerians, he argued, have continued to endure and adapt, expressing themselves not only through protest or complaint, but through work, enterprise, and a stubborn conviction that tomorrow need not be a repetition of today.

This framing mattered. It acknowledged hardship without normalizing it, and resilience without romanticizing suffering. More importantly, it returned responsibility to leadership. Public expectations, Akpabio cautioned, have not diminished with time; they have sharpened.

Security, inevitably, commanded attention. The Senate President welcomed ongoing military cooperation between Nigeria and the United States as part of a broader effort to confront terrorism and safeguard stability. Yet strategy did not eclipse humanity. His condolences to families bereaved by insecurity were measured but sincere, underscoring a truth often obscured by briefings and statistics: security is not an abstraction, but the difference between return and absence, between continuity and grief.

Equally sobering was the warning that as many as 35 million Nigerians may face hunger in the coming year. This was not treated as a distant projection to be acknowledged and deferred, but as an imperative demanding legislative urgency, rigorous oversight, and collaboration. Food security, in this context, is not charity; it is statecraft.

As the political season approaches with its familiar excesses, Akpabio’s appeal for civility and restraint was timely. Democracy, he implied, is not weakened by competition but by recklessness; not threatened by ambition but by the abandonment of responsibility. National unity, he warned, must never become collateral damage in the contest for power.

The address also made deliberate space for Nigerians whose lives remain suspended in captivity within their own country. Akpabio urged continued remembrance and prayer, resisting the political impulse to move on too quickly. Progress that ignores unresolved pain, he suggested, is progress in name only.

Threaded through the address was an endorsement of the Renewed Hope Programme of the Tinubu administration—not as a panacea, but as a collective undertaking requiring patience, discipline, and cooperation. Hope, in this telling, is not sentiment; it is work.

Then came the central fact. With less than one year and five months remaining, the Tenth Senate has entered its final stretch. Akpabio stated this plainly, without theatrics. The final stretch, he argued, is where participation yields to performance—where urgency must be embraced without panic, reform pursued without recklessness, and productivity demanded without compromising standards.

What followed was a concise legislative philosophy. The months ahead must be reform-driven. Laws passed now must strengthen institutions, secure lives and property, unlock growth, and restore confidence in the Nigerian state. There was a pointed warning against legislative clutter and symbolic excess. History, Akpabio reminded his colleagues, is unimpressed by volume; it is persuaded by value.

He described the task ahead as institutional housekeeping: clearing bottlenecks, completing what was begun, and leaving behind laws that function rather than frustrate. The imagery was modest, but the implication was serious. Governance, at its best, is stewardship rather than spectacle.

The vision outlined was ambitious yet restrained: a Nigeria more governable than it was met; more just than it was found; more hopeful than it was entrusted to this generation of lawmakers. Institutions stronger than individuals. Laws that serve rather than burden. It was nation-building language—and an invitation to judgment.

Practicalities were not ignored. The budget, Akpabio noted, requires rigorous scrutiny, responsible passage, and faithful implementation. Oversight should correct rather than merely criticize. Collaboration with the Executive remains essential, grounded in constitutional responsibility rather than convenience.

Perhaps the most demanding reminder was the simplest. Senators, he said, are the ears, the eyes, and the legislative voice of Nigerians. It was not grandiose. It was exacting.

As the address concluded, the themes of time and memory returned. The clock is moving. The nation is watching. History is recording. This, Akpabio insisted, is not a moment for anxiety but for purpose. When the Tenth Senate reaches the end of its tenure, let it be remembered not as a body that slowed near the finish, but one that accelerated.

In many respects, the address captured the tone Akpabio has sought to establish since assuming the Senate presidency: stability over spectacle, substance over noise, legacy over applause. Whether the Senate finishes strong will depend not on rhetoric, but on deeds. As a declaration of intent, however, this was a serious one.

The final stretch has begun! Behold the hour cometh! The work remains unfinished. The trust has been acknowledged; it now awaits to be honored. In the end, nations remember less what was promised at the threshold, and more what was delivered before the door finally closed.

•Rt Hon Eseme Eyiboh, mnipr,

is Special Adviser on Media and Publicity and Official Spokesperson to the President of the Senate.

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FG orders strict operations on all borders *Committee gets N10billion head-start

Published

6 hours ago

June 10, 2026

Whirlwindnews

President Bola Tinubu on Tuesday, announced the approval of the establishment of a Presidential Task Force on Ebola Virus Disease Preparedness and Emerging Public Health Threats and ordered the immediate release of ₦10 billion as emergency intervention funding.

Bayo Onanuga, presidential spokesman, who conveyed the development to the public, said the fund would strengthen the operational preparedness of the National Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (NCDC) and support critical national public health emergency response activities.

To be chaired by Femi Gbajabiamila, Chief of Staff (CoS) to the President, the committee with membership drawn from relevant Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) and state representatives is also expected to get briefings on their plans to contain the disease.

Onanuga, stated that Tinubu also specifically directed all states hosting international airports and international border corridors, as well as relevant MDAs, to submit their plans, funding requirements and intervention needs for consideration and coordinated implementation.

Stating that the President’s move followed a stakeholder meeting convened under the CoS to review Nigeria’s preparedness and develop strategies against the possible importation of Ebola into the country., the statement informed that the Task Force would also intensify passenger screening at all international airports through enhanced temperature checks and crowd-control protocols.

Other measures would also include enhanced monitoring of passengers arriving through high-risk airline routes, including Air Uganda, Rwanda Air, Air Tanzania, Air Angola, Kenya Airways and Ethiopian Airlines; and the immediate activation of referral and isolation centres at the Lagos and Abuja international airports, with other airports to follow.

Other measures include the mandatory activation of QR code-based pre-arrival health declaration systems for passengers originating from or transiting through designated high-risk countries, as well as the disinfection of departure halls, cargoes, baggage areas and airport facilities as precautionary environmental measures.

The President also directed the advisory group to consult with security, diplomatic and aviation bodies on regulating flights from affected and designated high-risk countries and mandated the task force to designate specific airports or terminals for high-risk flights to enable controlled screening and isolation procedures, and to consider adjusting flight schedules to minimise interaction between high-risk passengers and other travellers.

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Another Nigerian goes in for allegedly calling for coup against Tinubu

Published

6 hours ago

June 10, 2026

Whirlwindnews

Justice Akintoye Aluko of the Federal High Court, Lagos on Tuesday ordered the remand of Paul Jibrin Oweleke in the custody of the Department of State Services (DSS) over alleged cybercrime offences linked to social media broadcasts that allegedly called for overthrow of President Bola Tinubu.

Specifically, Oweleke, in a two-count charge was accused of publishing posts on his online platform known as “Oweleke TV”, urging the Nigerian military to remove the President from office in a manner similar to takeovers in some West African countries, an act the agency said bordered on incitement and the use of a computer system to disseminate content considered prejudicial to national security and constitutional governance.

Oweleke’s broadcasts, the agency stressed, were capable of inciting public disorder and promoting disaffection against the government, which will undermine the country’s democracy.

Legal argument had ensued immediately after Oweleke, pleaded not guilty to the charges, with his lawyer kicking vehemently against the prayer of the agency that the court should order his remand pending the commencement of trial, on the ground that a bail application had already been filed and served on the prosecution.

But Aluko, who was persuaded to grant the prayer, went with the DSS, while adjourning the matter to June 16 for the hearing of the bail application, stating that Oweleke, would remain in the facility of the agency pending the outcome.

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We’ll cripple all health institutions if FG refuses to pay us – resident doctors

Published

7 hours ago

June 10, 2026

Whirlwindnews

By June 29 all medical doctors in public hospitals in Nigeria will drop their stethoscopes and other instruments of healthcare, unless the Federal Government settles all unpaid allowances, salary arrears, delayed training funds, and worsening welfare concerns of its members across the country’s health sector.

This was the notice served to the government on Monday, through The Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors (NARD), the umbrella under which the doctors operate, after rising from Ordinary General Meeting (OGM) held in Kano.

In the 21-day ultimatum to the government, the doctors warned that it would not be able to guarantee industrial harmony if the issues remain unresolved within the 21-day period.

In the resolution conveying their position, signed by Mohammad Suleiman, President, Shuaibu Ibrahim, Secretary-General, and Abdulmajid Yahya Ibrahim, Publicity and Social Secretary, on Friday, the body regretted that government had failed to fulfil several commitments to doctors despite repeated assurances and engagements.

“The association hereby declares an industrial dispute with the federal government of Nigeria on the outlined matters above and cannot guarantee industrial harmony after the 21-day window period given to address all the demands,” the communique reads.

The association said it is giving the federal government the 21-day window to commence concrete actions towards the development and implementation of a national healthcare workers assault prevention and response protocol
and the initiation of the necessary legislative process to address the menace.

NARD also demanded the release and payment of the 2026 medical residency training fund (MRTF) to all eligible resident doctors nationwide within the next 21 days.

The association questioned the unpaid salary and promotion arrears in several federal and state health institutions, as well as discrepancies in professional allowances reflected in members’ May 2026 salaries.

It highlighted the welfare issues affecting house officers, including salary delays, unpaid arrears, and difficulties with internship placement and onboarding processes that remain unresolved.

It also accused Motunrayo Omidiran, executive chairman of the Federal Character Commission (FCC), of delaying the issuance of letters of compliance to federal health institutions, noting that the delay has hampered recruitment efforts, manpower shortages, and brain drain in the sector.

NARD expressed worries about the increasing assaults, harassment, intimidation, and violent attacks against doctors while on duty, demanding the arrests, investigation, and prosecution of perpetrators.

It called for the establishment of a national healthcare workers’ assault prevention and response protocol within 21 days by the federal government and security agencies.

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