Senators fight over sitting arrangement in renovated chamber

The first day of the Senate’s plenary in the renovated red chamber was disrupted on Tuesday, April 30 as Senators verbally attacked themselves over the sitting arrangement. 

Both chambers of the National Assembly were formally reopened today for legislative duties after about two years of renovation work.

During the renovation, lawmakers were using makeshift chambers in both wings of the National Assembly.

Leadership reported that as the Senators converged at the renovated chamber this morning, Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, began by reading the names of Senators who marked their birthdays during the vacation. At a point, Senator Sahabi Alhaji Ya’u (APC, Zamfara North) angrily stood up from the seat allocated to him to lodge a complaint with the Leader of the Senate, Senator Opeyemi Bamidele (APC, Ekiti Central).

His complaints to Bamidele, which started in a hushed tone, degenerated into a shouting match between the two of them and consequently sparked reactions from other Senators and eventually escalated into a rowdy session, which lasted for about 30 minutes

Senator Ya’u was seen pointing his finger at the Senate Leader, complaining bitterly that the new seat allocated to him at the far right corner of the chamber was not befitting of him, being a ranking Senator, who once held a principal position of Deputy Minority Whip of the Senate during the 9th National Assembly.

The verbal war between the Senate Leader and Senator Ya’u festered further when Senator Danjuma Goje (APC, Gombe Central) joined the fray.

Goje also complained to Bamidele that ranking Senators were not well positioned in the new sitting arrangement.

However, in a troubleshooting move, the Senate President called on the Senate Leader and the aggrieved Senators surrounding him, to approach him, which they did and eventually paved the way for Akpabio to read his welcome address after normalcy was restored.

After Akpabio’s welcome address, an emergency closed-door session was called for by the Senate Leader, apparently to diffuse the bottled anger among Senators over the sitting arrangement.