The Senate experienced an extraordinary sitting on Wednesday that produced two distinct but symbolically connected security dramas: Senator Abdul Ningi, representing Bauchi Central, sparked uproar by entering the chamber dressed in the full traditional regalia of the Bachama Kingdom, carrying a spear and sceptre, and refusing to surrender them when the Sergeant-at-Arms moved to confiscate them; and in the same sitting, senators ordered security agencies to urgently track and arrest bandits and terrorists who are openly distributing over N100 million in cash through “giveaways” on TikTok and other social media platforms without any apparent consequence from law enforcement.
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The juxtaposition of the two incidents, a senator’s cultural symbols being treated as a security threat inside the chamber while armed criminals operate with impunity on public social media platforms, was not lost on Nigerians who watched the viral videos of both proceedings.
Videos of the incident on Thursday, showed Senator Ningi walking into the Senate chamber wearing the traditional attire of the Bachama Kingdom, including a distinctive neckpiece, and carrying what appeared to be a ceremonial spear and a sceptre.
Ningi explained that the regalia formed part of the traditional honours recently conferred on him by the Hama Bachama, Homun Daniel Shaga Ismaila, CON, who coronated him as the “Pampamo” of the Bachama Kingdom on Saturday, June 6, 2026, at a ceremony in Numan, Adamawa State. The title of Pampamo, Ningi explained, designates him as the official spokesperson of the kingdom.
However, the items immediately raised concerns among fellow senators and security officials, who questioned whether a spear, regardless of its cultural significance, should be brought into the chamber of the upper house of the National Assembly.
When confronted, Ningi defended the items in cultural terms. “This regalia is not in any way meant to threaten anybody. This regalia is our tradition. I cannot, on my own, violate the regulation of this chamber,” Ningi stated.
“Leave Me, You Don’t Know the Importance of This”: Senator Ningi Resists Confiscation of Spear and Sceptre pic.twitter.com/DfiBYRgYjk
— The Nigeria Lawyer (@Nigerialawyers) June 11, 2026
The situation escalated when the Sergeant-at-Arms, the Senate officer responsible for maintaining order and security within the chamber, approached Ningi to confiscate the items.
Ningi refused to hand them over, insisting on their cultural and traditional significance. “Leave me, I will take it away myself. You don’t know the importance of this and what it means,” the senator stated, drawing a mixture of laughter, murmurs, and concern from colleagues.
The exchange raised immediate questions about how the items passed through the multiple layers of security at the National Assembly complex, which is manned by the Nigerian Police Force, the Department of State Services (DSS), and internal Sergeant-at-Arms personnel. Critics have suggested that because Ningi is a high-ranking senator with nearly two decades of legislative experience, security officials likely deferred to his status and allowed him through without inspecting his traditional bundles.
Senate President Godswill Akpabio responded to the incident with a combination of humour and caution that carried undertones of the two senators’ well-documented political friction.
“Before I talk on this matter, I just want to say that the thing on his neck looks like a snake. And you people said he has a dagger. It’s not a dagger, it’s a spear, and the spear is even more dangerous,” Akpabio remarked, drawing laughter from the chamber.
The exchange between Akpabio and Ningi carries a backstory. In early 2024, Ningi was suspended from the Senate for three months after publicly alleging multi-trillion naira budget padding within the upper chamber, a controversy that Akpabio stated at the time had “totally damaged” the integrity of the Senate.
Following the exchange, the Senate briefly dissolved into an executive session to address the breach of parliamentary security protocols and restore order.
The viral video has divided public opinion between those who view Ningi’s appearance as a proud display of African cultural heritage and traditional authority, and those who argue that the Senate chamber must remain a strictly regulated environment where objects that could be perceived as weapons have no place.
Defenders of Ningi point to Nigeria’s constitutional recognition of the preservation of local cultures and argue that displaying official regalia conferred by a prominent paramount ruler should be celebrated rather than criminalised. Critics counter that cultural pride does not override institutional security protocols, and that allowing a sharp object into the legislative chamber, regardless of its cultural symbolism, represents a serious security lapse that could set a dangerous precedent.
In a sharp contrast to the attention devoted to Ningi’s ceremonial spear, the Senate also confronted the brazenness of armed criminal networks operating openly on social media, passing a resolution calling on security agencies to urgently track and arrest bandits and terrorists who use platforms like TikTok to publicise their criminal operations, flaunt proceeds of crime, and conduct public cash distributions.
The resolution followed a motion sponsored by Senator Sunday Karimi of Kogi West Senatorial District on the rising wave of bandit attacks and terrorist incursions in Kogi West and other parts of the country.
During deliberations, Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan of Kogi Central Senatorial District introduced an additional prayer that transformed the motion from a regional security complaint into a national cybersecurity and law enforcement challenge.
Akpoti-Uduaghan expressed alarm that armed groups were no longer operating covertly but were instead leveraging digital platforms to project influence, flaunt ill-gotten wealth, and conduct what she described as public “giveaways” believed to be funded through criminal activity.
“Bandits and terrorists who carry out these activities live on their social media handles. Two days ago, bandits conducted a giveaway, distributing over N100 million within the space of 30 minutes through their social media handles, especially TikTok,” Akpoti-Uduaghan stated.
She questioned why such overt digital footprints had not translated into arrests by the security agencies mandated to track cyber-enabled crimes.
“I wonder why the Cybercrime Unit and the Police Force generally cannot track these activities and apprehend them since they are on social media. Therefore, I urge the Nigerian Police Force National Cybercrime Centre to track and arrest these individuals,” she stated.
The additional prayer was seconded by Senator Osita Ngwu of Enugu West Senatorial District and received broad support across party lines.
Senate President Akpabio responded with considerably more gravity than he had shown during the Ningi spear incident, describing the bandits’ online conduct as a direct affront to state authority.
“The Department of State Services should be able to track their movements and arrest them because this is a show of impunity, as if there is no law at all,” Akpabio stated.
He warned that the open circulation of videos showing cash displays and criminal activities on social media amounted to a deliberate attempt to ridicule government institutions and undermine public confidence in the country’s security architecture.
“I do not see why we should not have control over the social media space. That idea of showing themselves, showing the cash collected and displaying it is a way of challenging the government,” Akpabio added.
The Senate President urged intelligence and security agencies to treat the matter as an urgent national security priority, calling for improved coordination and real-time response to online intelligence.
“I want the security agencies and heads of security services to see this as a major challenge. Whenever anybody finds such content, bring it to the attention of the Senate, and we shall invite the relevant federal authorities to explain why those people have not been apprehended,” Akpabio stated.
He also demanded accountability mechanisms: “If they are apprehended, they should also report back so that Nigerians can know that those who openly show their faces while committing crimes are being arrested and prosecuted.”
The juxtaposition of the two incidents within a single Senate sitting has not escaped public commentary. In one moment, the Senate’s security apparatus was preoccupied with a senator’s ceremonial spear, a cultural object with no criminal intent behind it. In another, the same chamber was confronting the reality that armed criminal groups are distributing hundreds of millions of naira on public social media platforms with complete impunity, their faces visible, their locations trackable, their financial transactions documented in real time, yet no arrests have been made.
The contrast highlights what many Nigerians see as a fundamental misalignment in the country’s security priorities: that the instruments of state authority can be mobilised to confiscate a traditional chief’s ceremonial items inside a legislative chamber but cannot be deployed to arrest criminals who publicly broadcast their operations and wealth on platforms accessible to anyone with a smartphone.
The Senate’s resolution calling on the Nigerian Police Force National Cybercrime Centre, the DSS, and other security agencies to act on the TikTok intelligence now places an obligation on those agencies to demonstrate that they are capable of translating digital evidence into physical arrests, a test that the country’s law enforcement infrastructure has repeatedly struggled to pass.
Senator Ningi’s traditional spear has since been removed from the chamber. The bandits who distributed over N100 million on TikTok remain at large as at the time of this report. The Senate has not announced any follow-up mechanism for tracking compliance with its resolution on the TikTok arrests.
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