There was a time Nigeria had leaders, men and women who stood tall, shoulders squared, ready to face the truth, even when it bruised. Today, we have men in agbada who run from panels like common criminals dodging subpoenas. They want respect, but they fear scrutiny. They want praise, but they panic at questions.
On Friday, May 3rd, during an interview with Seun Okinbaloye on Channels TV, something rare happened in Nigeria clarity. The kind that slices through noise and stares power straight in the face. Seun asked a simple, devastating question.
“There was a presidential panel set up to look into the matter between Senator Godswill Akpabio and Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan. We got intel that Akpabio withdrew from that panel. Why did Akpabio withdraw from that panel?”
The woman sent to speak for Akpabio blinked, fumbled, and finally choked out this gem.
“Sometimes when you’re not guilty, you may just feel the need not to appear…”
Wait! what?
Since when did innocence become allergic to accountability? Since when did “not guilty” mean “not available”?
If he’s clean, why not show up, speak up, and clear his name once and for all? Why abandon the one platform where the so-called lies of Senator Natasha could have been unmasked?
Truth doesn’t stammer, only guilt does.
Since when did innocence need a body double to explain its absence?
If Natasha must present evidence, Akpabio must first explain his escape act.
Every noise from his defenders is just premium nonsense in designer packaging.
You want Natasha to present evidence? That’s fair. But then ask your golden boy why he ran from the only place that evidence could have been tested.
If you’re not guilty, you sit in front of the panel and face your accuser. You don’t duck. You don’t hide behind stammering proxies. You don’t choke on your own innocence.
And if he truly had nothing to hide, he would have come, stood firm, and made the nation clap as he put Natasha to shame. But he didn’t. Because he couldn’t. Because truth doesn’t stammer, only guilt does.
This isn’t just about Akpabio. This is about Nigeria’s growing culture of cowardice in high places.
This isn’t the first time a powerful Nigerian has ducked a panel meant to hold them accountable. Remember when a sitting minister blatantly ignored a National Assembly summons, claiming “oversight” was beneath them? Or when officials named in subsidy fraud scandals never showed up before investigative committees, only to reappear at campaign rallies, grinning like saints? We’ve seen this script before. It’s not new. It’s just gotten bolder.
We now live in a country where powerful men write their own rules, dodge accountability panels like an Olympic sport, and still come out to demand applause from a nation they insult daily.
Why do we even bother with panels if the accused can simply walk away? What kind of democracy permits this mockery of justice?
And let’s not ignore the gendered stench of it all. A woman speaks, and the nation screams: “Where’s your proof?” But a powerful man runs from the spotlight, and his flight is dressed up as wisdom. Is that how low we’ve fallen?
Let us say it as it is. If Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan must be dragged through the fire of public proof, then Senator Godswill Akpabio must walk into the courtroom of national accountability. And until he does, his silence speaks louder than any of Natasha’s accusations.
The question remains.
Why did Senator Godswill Akpabio withdraw from the panel?
Until we get an answer, every shout from his supporters is just premium nonsense in designer packaging.
Nigerians must stop normalizing silence and swagger as innocence. Demand better. Ask the hard questions. If our leaders won’t answer to panels, then let them answer to the people, loud, unrelenting, and unforgiving in our demand for truth.
Stephanie Shaakaa
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