House of Reps Members Clash Over Minority Leadership Nomination

A new argument over who should lead the opposition in the House of Representatives broke out on Thursday. Philip Agbese, the deputy spokesperson of the House, denied backing Ikenga Ugochinyere for the minority leader role. He also claimed that an unknown MP forged his signature.

The fight unfolded during a plenary session. Lawmakers exchanged harsh words, disrupting the proceedings as they argued over the ongoing race for the minority leadership position.

This dispute follows just a day after reports revealed that 61 of the 81 opposition MPs had endorsed Mr Ugochinyere for the minority leader role. They submitted their nominations to Speaker Abbas Tajudeen, who is expected to announce the new minority caucus leader soon.

Mr Agbese represents Ado/Okpokwu/Ogbadibo Federal Constituency in Benue State under the Labour Party. He was among those listed as having signed the nomination document.

During Thursday's plenary, Mr Agbese raised a privilege matter. He distanced himself from the endorsement and claimed his signature was used without his permission.

“Yesterday I saw a document on the internet with my name reportedly nominating a member of this House for the post of minority leader,” he said.

He explained that while he had talked with many MPs, including Mr Ugochinyere, those discussions were about issues affecting the opposition and constituency projects, not the minority leadership race.

“I had conversed, deliberated and visited many members of this House. One of the people I had such discussions with was my colleague, Honourable Ikenga Ugochinyere. Our discussion was basically centred on the welfare of members of the caucus.

“Number two was the issue of the executive not adhering to issues concerning our constituency projects,” he added.

Mr Agbese also questioned the legitimacy of the endorsement document. He claimed one of the signers, Seyi Sowunmi (NDC, Lagos), could not have gotten his signature in good faith.

“The person who signed this document, Honourable Seyi…I have not seen him since December 2025, so I am at a loss. I feel that my legislative privilege has been breached because this amounts to forgery for my signature to be used for purposes which were not intended,” he said.

He called on the House to investigate and stop any further use of his signature. He accused supporters of Mr Ugochinyere of trying to damage his reputation with claims that MPs received $50,000 related to the endorsement.

“I saw on a social media blog that members have received a certain amount of money. I have not received any amount of money from anybody,” he said.

Mr Agbese intends to present both the document and media reports to the House to back his claims.

“My constituents have been calling me to know. This is not the first time my name has been mentioned in an issue like this. I don’t want to be involved and I don’t want my name to be further maligned as far as this is concerned,” he added.

Speaker Calls for Peace

In response, Speaker Abbas Tajudeen recognized the complaint and assured that the matter would be looked into.

“The observations and complaints are duly noted. We will take action on the issue raised in due course,” Mr Tajudeen said.

He also urged opposition members to refrain from further public disputes on the issue and said he would hold a closed-door meeting with all minority members later that day.

“I invite every minority member of this House to a closed-door meeting today at 2 o’clock so that we can discuss further. I don’t want us to further debate on this matter on the floor,” he said.

Despite the Speaker’s call for calm, the issue continued to spark debate. Billy Osawaru, a member from Edo State, said the allegations made by Mr Agbese were serious enough for a formal investigation by the House Committee on Ethics and Privileges.

“We know the nature of the issue we are dealing with. An issue like this should be referred to the Committee on Ethics and Privileges no matter what we want to do,” he said.

Ojema Ojotu, an APC member from Benue State, agreed with this stance.

Ugochinyere Denies Forgery Claims

Mr Ugochinyere, who represents Ideato North/Ideato South Federal Constituency in Imo State, quickly rejected the allegations. He insisted that Mr Agbese personally endorsed his nomination.

According to him, the Benue lawmaker visited him and signed the nomination document willingly in front of witnesses.

“My colleague Agbese made some weighty allegations before every member here and today on live transmission,” Mr Ugochinyere said.

“My brother arrived from Benue late for our meeting, met me in the office in the presence of some of my colleagues that I will bring forward, and voluntarily on his own and independently pledged and signed my nomination for the post of minority leader.”

Before he could finish, Mr Agbese interrupted him, shouting, “I never did that.”

This exchange led to chaos in the chamber as MPs began arguing, forcing the presiding officers to call for order repeatedly.

Once things calmed down, Mr Ugochinyere continued his defense, calling the allegations an attempt to sabotage his candidacy.

“I am subject to your fatherly decision to sit on the matter, but it was important that such a treacherous lie and attempt to defame and blackmail should be vehemently defeated,” he said.

“Our colleagues who were there when he signed will be brought forward before you, Mr Speaker.”

Mr Ugochinyere asserted that his nomination had wide support among opposition lawmakers.

“I understand that at the moment an overwhelming majority of 61 out of 81 opposition members elected me,” he said.

He suggested that some opponents of his nomination were not part of the minority caucus.

Ongoing Discussions

As the debate continued, Awaji-Inombek Abiante (APC, Rivers) warned against treating Mr Ugochinyere’s claims as official House business.

He argued that discussions about the minority leader were only speculation until the opposition caucus formally presented its nominee.

“I want to put it on record that whatever has been said relative to electing a minority leader should be expunged from the records of this House because it is not before us,” Mr Abiante said.

Bob Solomon, an APC member from Rivers State, also commented on the situation, stressing the need for the House to follow proper procedures when selecting leaders.

“We have rules. The House rule says the decision regarding who shall be a principal officer will be based primarily on cognate experience,” he said.

Mr Tajudeen intervened again, urging members to stop further arguments and wait for the scheduled meeting with minority lawmakers.

“Please, honourable colleagues, let us not overheat this issue. We already have the 2 o’clock meeting. Let us leave everything,” he said.

The disagreement shows the growing rifts within the opposition over the leadership transition after the current minority leader steps down. Earlier, a member opposing Mr Ugochinyere’s endorsement told PREMIUM TIMES that discussions were still ongoing and no final decision had been made.

“We are working with the speaker to round off everything this weekend, then a new leadership will emerge next week, by God’s grace,” he said.

He added that dissatisfaction with the outgoing leadership spurred the endorsement campaign.

“The truth is that the whole National Assembly members are not happy, so it’s a gang-up against the leadership,” he said.

Concerns about a possible imposition of a successor may have driven Mr Ugochinyere’s supporters to secure endorsements quickly.

“Now, why they did this, he is thinking that Kingsley Chinda has left, maybe the leadership will just come and impose somebody, which is not so,” he said.

Thursday’s clash highlights the divisions within the opposition and the challenges in choosing a consensus candidate for the important minority leadership role in the House of Representatives.