The failed attempt by Senate President Godswill Akpabio to amend the Senate Standing Rules was, from the outset, interpreted in many political circles as an act of self-preservation. The proposed amendment, which sought to restrict eligibility for principal offices to ranking senators from the immediate past assemblies, would effectively have shut the door against the return of powerful former senators outside the 9th and 10th Senate circle.
Though eventually reversed, the controversy surrounding the move has exposed not just anxiety within the current Senate leadership, but also the growing perception that Akpabio’s once formidable hold on the upper legislative chamber may no longer be as secure as many once assumed.
Truth be told, Akpabio’s gambit is not the first attempt to manipulate Senate rules in favour of entrenched interests. Nigerian parliamentary history is replete with such manoeuvres. However, many observers consider this latest effort one of the most brazen because of the obvious political calculations behind it and the timing ahead of the 2027 transition cycle.
The closest parallel came in the build-up to the 2007 general elections when the Senate amended its rules to favour ranking senators in the contest for the leadership of the 6th Senate. At that time, the two dominant contenders were Senators David Mark and Ibrahim Mantu, both influential figures from the 5th Senate.
Their rivalry was not confined to the red chamber. It extended deeply into their constituencies and political networks. Political insiders at the time alleged that forces loyal to David Mark quietly encouraged opposition against Mantu’s return bid in Plateau State, while Mantu himself was believed to have supported Young Alhaji, the colourful political operator who attempted to stop Mark’s own return to the Senate from Benue State.
In the end, fate intervened dramatically. David Mark survived the challenge and returned to the Senate, while the once all-powerful Mantu was shockingly defeated by the relatively obscure Satty Gogwim of the Action Congress. Mantu’s defeat instantly disqualified him from the Senate presidency race despite his vast network, influence and financial war chest.
Ordinarily, David Mark should then have coasted effortlessly into the Senate Presidency. But remnants of the anti-Mark bloc within the Senate were determined to stop him at all costs. Despite the newly introduced ranking rule, the anti-Mark camp rallied around the immediate past governor of Benue State, George Akume, who had transformed from a political ally into a fierce rival of Mark.
Akume, remarkably, was only a first-time senator. Yet the Clerk of the National Assembly at the time, Nasiru Arab, brushed aside objections over Akume’s eligibility and allowed him to participate in the contest despite the ranking provision. That singular move underscored a timeless truth about Nigerian politics: rules are often only as strong as the political interests behind them.
What followed was one of the fiercest internal battles in Senate history. It took the resilience and strategic calculation of Ike Ekweremadu to hold the Mark coalition together. Ekweremadu reportedly rejected overtures to become deputy to Akume, insisting instead on standing by Mark as a matter of political principle and institutional stability. Mark won the leadership contest despite the last-minute intrigues on the floor, which saw Senators Gbemisola Saraki and Nuhu Aliyu step down for George Akume.History eventually vindicated that choice. David Mark went on to preside over what many still regard as the most stable Senate leadership in Nigeria’s democratic history. Between 2007 and 2015, his Senate navigated some of the country’s most difficult constitutional and political moments, including the tense era that produced the Doctrine of Necessity during the illness of President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua.
Mark’s leadership style may not have pleased everyone, but it projected stability, institutional confidence and legislative maturity. By the time he voluntarily stepped aside in 2015, he had established a benchmark against which subsequent Senate Presidents would inevitably be measured.
That comparison is precisely what now haunts the Akpabio Senate.
Critics increasingly describe the current Senate as the least assertive in Nigeria’s democratic experience. On several major national controversies, the Senate under Akpabio has been accused of appearing too accommodating to executive influence and insufficiently independent in asserting the legislature’s constitutional role.
Against that backdrop, the failed rule amendment appeared to many Nigerians not as a reform initiative, but as an attempt to preserve an increasingly vulnerable political structure.
The real fear within Akpabio’s camp, many believe, is the possibility of powerful returning senators upsetting the existing balance ahead of the next Senate leadership contest. Among the names repeatedly mentioned are former Delta State governor, Ifeanyi Okowa and former Edo State governor, Adams Oshiomhole. Both men possess national political reach, grassroots influence and considerable networks within the ruling APC. If the Senate Presidency remains zoned to the South-South in the next dispensation, either man could emerge as a formidable challenger to Akpabio.
There is also persistent speculation surrounding Hope Uzodimma. Though his tenure as governor officially runs until early 2028, political circles have for months whispered that Uzodimma could resign before the expiration of his tenure for the singular objective of returning to the Senate and pursuing the office of Senate President.
Whether those ambitions eventually materialise or not, the reversal of the controversial Senate amendments tells its own story. It reflects not strength, but vulnerability. A Senate President fully secure in his political dominance would hardly need procedural barricades to fend off possible challengers.
That the amendment collapsed so quickly suggests that Akpabio’s political fortress may no longer be impregnable. The whispers of discontent within the APC, combined with the ambitions of heavyweight political returnees, are gradually converging into a potent challenge.
And in Nigerian politics, once the perception of invincibility begins to crack, the fall of the fortress often follows sooner than expected.
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