Senator Adams Oshiomhole is not known for backing down from a verbal brawl. But this time, the Edo North Senator took it a step further, issuing what sounded like an open invitation to a street fight with Reuben Abati, the co-host of Arise TV’s breakfast show. The former Labour leader didn’t mince words as he blasted Abati over a comment made during an interview with former Delta Governor, Ifeanyi Okowa.
Oshiomhole accused Abati of being “mischievous” for asking Okowa if he had sought “permission” from Oshiomhole before defecting to the All Progressives Congress (APC). That one sentence was apparently enough to unleash Oshiomhole’s full-blown fury.
“I was particularly shocked that a senior editor could ask the immediate past governor of Delta state, Okowa, mischievously, I must say, with all due respect, ‘Did you get permission from Oshiomhole that your sins will now be forgiven before you decided to decamp to APC?’” he said during a fiery appearance on Channels Television’s Politics Today.
He accused Abati of hypocrisy and selective memory
Oshiomhole went further, digging up Abati’s past brushes with the EFCC. “The man who made that statement was at a time invited by the EFCC after he was Jonathan’s spokesman, shamelessly. Thereafter, EFCC arrested him. Was I the one who granted him bail to leave PDP to go where he is?”
He did not stop there.
Oshiomhole also claimed that Abati had conveniently forgotten the role he played during his days as a labour activist, especially on Labour Day. According to him, the Arise TV anchor deliberately ignored the part he played leading protests and defending workers.
“Even on Labour Day, he was saying some labour leaders who had been involved in picketing and fought for workers; he could not even credit me with the fact that I led the protest,” he said. “This is a guy who wrote ‘Oshiomhole the people’s president’ when I was president of the NLC.”
A challenge to settle it on the street
The most shocking part came when Oshiomhole ditched the usual political grammar and threw down the gauntlet.
“If you want to abuse me, don’t hide behind the TV; let’s meet in the street and fight it out,” he said.
He went further, suggesting that Abati’s jabs were the result of bitterness over a failed political ambition. “If you are angry because you wanted to be a Deputy Governor and you lost an election in Ogun state, is that the reason you are paranoid, using every opportunity to abuse me?”
A media spat turned public brawl
With that statement, Oshiomhole may have just dragged political commentary into a wrestling ring. The public spat between a senator and a TV anchor has now morphed into a soap opera, exposing deep-seated grudges, egos, and the kind of street-style politics that often defines Nigeria’s public discourse.
Whether Abati will respond with diplomacy or drama remains to be seen, but one thing is clear: the gloves are off, fight don set!
