The first day of Senate’s plenary in the renovated red chamber was marred by a verbal war among Senators over sitting arrangement on Tuesday.
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Recall that both chambers of the National Assembly were formally reopened on Tuesday after about two years of renovation work.
During the renovation, lawmakers were using makeshift chambers in both wings of the National Assembly.
The project was completed before their 40-day recess, prompting their resumption to the remodelled Chambers on Tuesday.
But trouble started in the Senate when the President of the Senate, Godswill Akpabio, started 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 on hushed tone, degenerated to 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.
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Senator Ya’u was seen pointed his finger at the Senate Leader, complaining bitterly that the new seat allocated to him at 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 the 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 President of the Senate called on the Senate Leader and the aggrieved Senators surrounding him, to approach him, which they did and eventually paved 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.
The executive session commenced by 12:05pm.
However, Senate spokesman Senator Yemi Adaramodu (APC – Ekiti South) in a statement after plenary denied there was any fight or angry exchange between Senators over sitting arrangements in the newly renovated Senate chambers during the resumption session.
Adaramodu said: “There was no disagreement, rancour or any verbal tirade in respect of the seating arrangements in the Senate chamber.
“The Senate resumed today in the newly renovated chamber and the seating positions of Senators were done in accordance to the established Legislative protocols.
“It’s pertinent to know that rankings of Senators and leadership positions are considered. All legislators all over the world know and accept this tradition.
“The new arrangements in the chamber today did not depart from this. Every Senator is thus considered based on this Legislative tradition, hence there couldn’t be any confusion over seating arrangements. Senators have been observing this seating protocols, even in the temporary chamber, hence the unfounded story of a phantom fight over seating arrangements is an unscrupulous attempt to drag the image of the Senate into an unnecessary and needless controversy.
“The general public should disregard this odious song of sorrow from these incorrigible wholesalers and retailers of falsehood.”
The Senate had on March 20, adjourned plenary till April 16, but postponed resumption twice to allow for the completion of the chamber which had been under renovation since 2022.
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