ABUJA — The Green Chamber of the National Assembly dissolved into a shouting match on Thursday afternoon as bitter rancor over the selection of a new Minority Leader erupted into the open. The confrontation pitted Hon. Philip Agbese against Hon. Ikenga Imo Ugochinyere, disrupting legislative proceedings and forcing Speaker Abbas Tajudeen to intervene to prevent total disorder on the House floor.
The chaos unfolded shortly after the commencement of plenary, when Hon. Philip Agbese, representing the Ado/Okpokwu/Ogbadibo Federal Constituency of Benue State, rose under a matter of personal privilege. Addressing a hushed floor, Agbese leveled a damning criminal allegation against Ugochinyere, the high-profile lawmaker representing the Ideato North/South Federal Constituency of Imo State.
The Forged Endorsement Claim
Agbese informed the House that his attention had been drawn to an endorsement document circulating across various online news platforms and social media channels. The document, which listed signatures of minority lawmakers backing Ugochinyere for the vacant Minority Leader post, prominently featured Agbese’s name and signature.
“I feel that my legislative privilege has been severely breached because this amounts to outright forgery,” an agitated Agbese stated, his voice echoing across the chamber. “For my signature to be harvested and appended to a document for purposes for which it was never intended is a gross violation of parliamentary integrity.”
The Benue lawmaker conceded that he had held preliminary consultative meetings with Ugochinyere alongside several other opposition members. However, he insisted those discussions centered exclusively on constituency welfare and legislative logistics, not an endorsement of a leadership bid.
Agbese further seized the floor to address what he termed “toxic blackmail” spreading within political circles, explicitly denying social media rumors that lawmakers had been offered a $50,000 cash bribe to seal the leadership seat. “My constituents have been calling me in distress. I have not received a single dollar from anybody, and I will not do so. This is about my integrity,” he declared.
The Chamber Explodes
The legislative atmosphere turned hostile when Hon. Ugochinyere sought the Speaker’s indulgence to provide a personal explanation in response to the allegations, which were being broadcast live on national television.
Ugochinyere flatly denied the forgery accusation, describing it as a “treacherous lie.” The Imo lawmaker countered that Agbese had voluntarily arrived at a designated strategy meeting and personally signed the nomination paper in full view of multiple lawmakers.
[Chamber Verbal Crossfire — Thursday Plenary]
Hon. Ugochinyere: "...He arrived at the venue and voluntarily endorsed the document in the presence of witnesses!"
│
▼
Hon. Agbese (Interrupted, shouting): "I never did that! That is a lie!"
│
▼
[Chamber Dissolves into Shouting Match as Rival Opposition Factions Join the Fray]
As the two principals traded words, lawmakers from opposing factions within the minority caucus jumped to their feet, creating an uproar that drowned out the central microphones. Speaker Abbas Tajudeen spent several minutes hammering his gavel, pleading with members to de-escalate the tension.
Order was only restored after the Speaker firmly ruled that the matter would not be debated further on the floor, disclosing that a mandatory closed-door meeting of all 81 minority lawmakers had already been scheduled for later in the day to resolve the leadership deadlock permanently.
