Senator Godswill Obot Akpabio

Senator Godswill Obot Akpabio is the incumbent President of the Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, third in the constitutional line of presidential succession after the Vice President. He took office as Senate President on 13 June 2023 after winning the chamber's leadership ballot with 63 votes against Senator Abdulaziz Yari's 46. His public career spans four federal-level positions: two-term Governor of Akwa Ibom State (29 May 2007 - 29 May 2015) on the People's Democratic Party (PDP) platform; Senator for Akwa Ibom North-West and Senate Minority Leader in the 8th Senate (June 2015 - August 2018); Federal Minister of Niger Delta Affairs in the Buhari cabinet (21 August 2019 - 11 May 2022) after his defection from PDP to the All Progressives Congress (APC) on 8 August 2018; and a returned senator and chamber president in the 10th Senate from June 2023. The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has opened, paused and revisited inquiries into his governorship-era finances and his Niger Delta Affairs ministerial tenure across four successive administrations without ever filing a charge sheet against him in any court. The first major track opened in mid-2015 when an Abuja-based lawyer and activist, Leo Ekpenyong, petitioned the EFCC alleging that between January and December 2014 Akpabio had colluded with then-Permanent Secretary of the Government House Etekamba Umoren and then-Accountant General Udo Isobara to convert N108.1 billion of Akwa Ibom State funds. The EFCC summoned the petitioner on 17 June 2015 to adopt the petition. On 15 July 2015 Justice Ntong Ntong of the Akwa Ibom State High Court granted an interim injunction (sought by the Akwa Ibom State Attorney-General Uwemedimo Nwoko) restraining the EFCC, ICPC and Inspector-General of Police from probing the state's finances — a restraint subsequently vacated. On 16 October 2015 EFCC operatives took Akpabio into custody at about 5:20 p.m. for interrogation at the commission's headquarters; he was accompanied by Senior Advocate of Nigeria Ricky Tarfa and was released after hours of questioning. Akpabio's office responded that he 'has nothing to hide' and had 'walked into EFCC himself this evening to answer questions about his tenure in Akwa Ibom'. In February 2017 the EFCC took possession of a school in Shelter Afrique, Uyo (John Paul II School), reported by Punch, SaharaReporters and Standard Gazette as allegedly belonging to Akpabio's wife Mrs Unoma Akpabio, as part of the N108bn probe. In September 2017 Punch and Business Post reported a related EFCC inquiry into N1.4 billion of alleged 'gifts' from Akwa Ibom State accounts to a new-generation bank in 2013, broken down by EFCC detectives as three transfers of N566,883,728.66, N441,808,081.90 and N392,631,943.37. The Akwa Ibom State Government under successor Udom Emmanuel separately challenged EFCC's authority over state finances in court. By March 2017 EFCC's spokesperson told Punch: 'EFCC does not close cases or give clearance to anybody.' The second track opened in August 2020 when, following a petition led by civil-society advocate Deji Adeyanju, the EFCC announced it had begun investigating Akpabio (then sitting Minister of Niger Delta Affairs) and the Acting Managing Director of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), Professor Kemebradikumo Pondei, over the diversion of NDDC funds — specifically the N40 billion alleged squandered by the Interim Management Committee (IMC) in three months, and aspects of the N81.5 billion of NDDC expenditure between October 2019 and May 2020 that became the subject of the National Assembly's 'off your mic' inquiry. The investigation was confirmed in writing by the EFCC to Adeyanju ('investigation into the case has commenced') and reported by Vanguard, TheCable, Punch, THISDAY and Guardian Nigeria on 20 August 2020. The Buhari-era NDDC forensic audit (Olumuyiwa Basiru and Co. as Lead Consultant, 13,777 projects reviewed, 362 bank accounts examined) was delivered to the President on 2 September 2021; the implementing white paper was promised but has not been published as of 2026. A third, contested track concerns SaharaReporters' April 2021 exclusive that Akpabio, accompanied by aides, was held at the EFCC headquarters for approximately two hours on 12 April 2021 after a meeting with then-EFCC Chairman Abdulrasheed Bawa allegedly arranged by then-Attorney-General Abubakar Malami — with SaharaReporters alleging that an attempted $350,000 cash inducement was the trigger for the brief detention, and that intervention from the Aso Villa effected the release. SaharaReporters is the single named source for the bribery-attempt allegation; the broader fact of the EFCC encounter is recorded but the bribery allegation is single-sourced. Akpabio's media office has consistently denied any wrongdoing in that episode. A fourth track opened on 29 March 2023 when the EFCC sent Akpabio a fresh invitation to its headquarters over alleged abuse of office and misappropriation of multi-billions of Naira in his ministerial tenure; his lawyer Umeh Kalu (SAN) responded that Akpabio was on a medical appointment abroad, suffering from pneumonia and cardiac arrhythmia. A follow-up letter dated 13 April 2023 asked Akpabio to 'personally report' on 9 May 2023 — a date that fell after his decisive ascent to the Senate Presidency on 13 June 2023. No public arraignment, no charge sheet and no court appearance has followed. On 18 October 2023, during the Senate's confirmation screening of new EFCC Chairman Olu Olukoyede, Akpabio publicly chastised the agency from the Senate floor: 'I think the EFCC has engaged more in sensationalism than on real investigation' (Vanguard, Channels TV, 19 October 2023) and, in his most-quoted line, 'I don't see how the EFCC will arrest a former governor and come through the rooftop as if they are taking Pablo Escobar' (TheCable, 19 October 2023). He told Olukoyede 'don't use me as example' in the anti-corruption fight (Daily Trust, Vanguard). His media aide Kenny Okolugbo restated the family's position on Arise TV in October 2025: that 'EFCC has no case against' the Senate President (Daily Post, 11 October 2025). The status of all four EFCC tracks as of May 2026 is unresolved: no charge sheet, no arraignment, no plea, no verdict, but no formal closure either. Separately — and editorially partitioned from the EFCC tracks because it is a harassment / defamation matter rather than a corruption matter — Akpabio is the subject of two prominent sexual-harassment-related allegations in the public record. In July 2020 the immediate-past Acting MD of the NDDC, Joy Nunieh, alleged on Arise TV that she had slapped Akpabio after he sexually harassed her at his Apo, Abuja guest house; Akpabio denied the allegation and described it as sponsored to derail the NDDC forensic audit. In February 2025 Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan (PDP, Kogi Central) alleged on Arise TV that Akpabio had made unwanted sexual advances towards her in December 2023 and had tied legislative motions in her name to demands for sexual favours; Akpabio denied the allegations ('at no time did I sexually harass Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan'). The Senate suspended Akpoti-Uduaghan for six months on procedural grounds on 6 March 2025; her petition was rejected by the Senate Ethics Committee on the same grounds. A N200 billion defamation suit was filed against Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan, and the Federal Government separately filed a defamation action. These are not corruption matters and are recorded here for context only; they are not represented in the cases[] array. As of May 2026, Akpabio continues to preside over the 10th Senate.