Minority Leadership Tussle: House of Reps MPs bicker as one disowns Ugochinyere’s nomination

A fresh controversy over the leadership of the opposition caucus in the House of Representatives erupted on Thursday after deputy spokesperson of the House Philip Agbese denied endorsing Ikenga Ugochinyere for the position of minority leader and accused an unnamed MP of forging his signature.

The dispute, which played out during plenary, triggered heated exchanges among lawmakers and briefly disrupted proceedings as MPs argued over competing claims surrounding the ongoing contest for the minority leadership position.

The development comes barely 24 hours after documents obtained by journalists indicated that 61 of the 81 opposition MPs in the House had endorsed Mr Ugochinyere for the position of minority leader and submitted their nominations to Speaker Abbas Tajudeen ahead of an expected announcement on the leadership of the minority caucus.

Mr Agbese, who represents Ado/Okpokwu/Ogbadibo Federal Constituency of Benue State on the platform of the Labour Party, was listed among the 61 lawmakers who reportedly signed the nomination document.

However, raising a matter of privilege during Thursday’s plenary, the member distanced himself from the endorsement and alleged that his signature had been used without his consent.

“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 further explained that while he had held discussions with several MPs, including Mr Ugochinyere, those conversations were focused on issues affecting the opposition and constituency projects rather than 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 said.

Mr Agbese further questioned the authenticity of the endorsement document, claiming that one of its signatories, Seyi Sowunmi (NDC, Lagos), could not have legitimately obtained his signature.

“The person who signed this document, Honourable Seyi …I have not seen him since December 2025, so I am at a loss and 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.

The MP asked the House to investigate the matter and stop any further use of his signature.

He also accused supporters of Mr Ugochinyere of allegedly attempting to tarnish his image through reports suggesting that MPs received $50,000 in connection with 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 said he intended to submit both the document and media reports before the House to support 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 because I have a right as a member of this House for my privileges to be fully protected,” he added.

Speaker seeks calm

Responding, Speaker Abbas Tajudeen acknowledged the complaint and promised that the matter would receive attention.

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

However, the Speaker appealed to opposition members to avoid further public confrontation on the matter and announced a closed-door meeting with all minority members later in the day.

“I want to bring to the attention of all minorities that I am inviting 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. It is something within the family for us to discuss and make decisions appropriately,” he said.

Despite the speaker’s intervention, the matter continued to generate debate.

Billy Osawaru, a member from Edo State, argued that the allegations raised by Mr Agbese were serious enough to warrant 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. I think it’s also a parliamentary procedure,” he said.

The position was supported by Ojema Ojotu, an APC member from Benue State.

Ugochinyere rejects forgery claim

Mr Ugochinyere who represents Ideato North/Ideato South Federal Constituency of Imo State, immediately rose to strongly reject the allegations and insisted that Mr Agbese personally endorsed his nomination.

According to him, the Benue lawmaker visited him and signed the nomination document voluntarily in the presence 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 continue, Mr Agbese interrupted him.

“I never did that,” he shouted.

The exchange immediately triggered uproar in the chamber as MPs began arguing among themselves, forcing the presiding officers to repeatedly call for order.

After calm was restored, Mr Ugochinyere continued his defence, describing the allegations as an attempt to undermine 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 also maintained that his nomination enjoyed overwhelming support among opposition lawmakers.

“I understand that at the moment an overwhelming majority of 61 out of 81 opposition members elected me. It may not go down well with some people, but I never expected that desperation would get to this level,” he said.

He further suggested that some of those opposing his emergence were not members of the minority caucus.

More debate

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

He argued that discussions about who would become minority leader remained speculative 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.

“Members of the minority will come before all of us and we will know who the leader will be. Whatever he has said is just his personal opinion.”

Bob Solomon, an APC member from Rivers State, also weighed in on the unfolding controversy, arguing that the House must adhere to established procedures in selecting principal officers.

“What we are seeing here, what has happened now, is as a result of this House’s tolerance.”

“We have rules. The House rule says the decision regarding who shall be a principal officer will be [based] primarily on cognate experience. We have members from the minority who have spent nine, 10, 12 and 15 years here. It is never done. It is not going to happen.”

Mr Tajudeen eventually intervened again, urging members to shelve further arguments and await the outcome of 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. If there are issues, let’s discuss them there.”

The disagreement reflects growing divisions within the opposition caucus over the succession process following the expected exit of the current minority leader.

Earlier, a member of the caucus who opposed Mr Ugochinyere’s endorsement told PREMIUM TIMES that consultations were still ongoing and that no final decision had been reached.

“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 8argued that the endorsement campaign was driven by dissatisfaction with the outgoing minority leadership structure.

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

He also suggested that concerns over a possible imposition of a successor after the departure of the current leadership may have accelerated efforts by Mr Ugochinyere’s supporters to secure endorsements.

“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 confrontation has further exposed divisions within the opposition bloc and underscored the challenges facing efforts to produce a consensus candidate for the influential minority leadership position in the House of Representatives.