The Senate President’s wife, Mrs Ekaette Unoma Akpabio, has found herself at the centre of a fresh controversy after reports surfaced over her visit to the Senate Chamber outside regular legislative proceedings.
The visit, reportedly carried out on a Saturday, triggered questions in some quarters over how she gained access to the highly secured chamber and what she was doing there.
Some reports went as far as alleging that she entered the chamber accompanied by marabouts and spiritualists for what was described as an “unholy” purpose.
But the Senate President’s office has now come out swinging, dismissing the claims as misinformation and insisting that there was nothing mysterious about the visit.
Dr Jibril Lawal Tafida, Special Adviser to Senate President Godswill Akpabio on Diaspora and Non-Governmental Organisations, said Mrs Akpabio went to the National Assembly Complex for a purely administrative assignment.
According to him, she was there to personally inspect faulty equipment and facilities in the Senate Chamber after her husband received complaints from senators and staff about malfunctioning installations and allegedly poor-quality work executed by contractors.
Tafida said the Senate President was concerned about the condition of some facilities and wanted the situation properly assessed.
Rather than spiritualists, he said, the people who accompanied Mrs Akpabio were technical professionals brought in to examine the problems.
They included electrical engineers, ICT and audio-visual technicians, as well as building maintenance experts, he explained.
The aide also rejected claims that the visit amounted to an unauthorised intrusion into the chamber.
He said relevant National Assembly officials were aware of the visit and that no security protocol was breached.
And why a Saturday?
Tafida said the timing was deliberate, arguing that an inspection carried out when the Senate was not sitting would avoid disrupting legislative activities.
The explanation followed an earlier report that generated calls for clarification over the alleged unusual access to the chamber.
That report claimed that Mrs Akpabio entered the Red Chamber with several individuals outside normal operating hours, but the allegation was not independently established.
With the Senate President’s office now providing a technical explanation, the central issue has shifted from allegations of a spiritual visit to questions about the state of equipment and facilities inside the nation’s upper legislative chamber.
The development is also likely to fuel fresh interest in how maintenance and technical contracts within the National Assembly are supervised, particularly after Tafida referred to complaints from lawmakers and staff about faulty facilities and the execution of some contracts.
Tafida, however, urged Nigerians to disregard what he described as speculative reports designed to manufacture a scandal where none existed.
He also called on media organisations to verify allegations before publishing reports capable of damaging the reputation of public officials and their families.
The Senate President’s office maintained that Mrs Akpabio’s visit was authorised, administrative and connected to the inspection of facilities—not any spiritual activity.
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