Senator Adams Oshiomhole, representing Edo State, has warned that Senate President Godswill Akpabio's alleged moves to alter tenure rules follow a familiar and dangerous pattern seen across Africa, one that historically paves the way for dictatorships.

Speaking on Arise TV, Oshiomhole said, "When African elites, particularly presiding presidents, in this case, the President of the Senate seek to amend the constitution to allow for another term. 

We have seen in Cameroon, as we have seen in Uganda, as is already happening in Rwanda. When a sitting president begins to tamper with the rules of tenure, that is how dictators emerge. 

And if it is an elite issue whether or not a man should perpetuate himself or not, by the time they begin to do so, it is the proverbial grass that suffers," he said.

Oshiomhole also raised suspicions about the circumstances surrounding the day the rule change was made. He noted that the two senior principal officers of the Senate were not present on that day.

He argued that the timing of the rule change, pushed through without the two most senior officers present, raises serious questions about intent, and that it deserves far more scrutiny than it has received.