Chidi Samuel|
The underlying tension in the upper legislative chamber was brought to the limelight on Wednesday as the Senate was thrown into chaos following the refusal of Senate president Bukola Sarkaki to recognise Godswill Akpabio, the lawmaker from Akwa Ibom State and former minority leader who decamped from the opposition PDP to the ruling APC.
The confusion erupted after the President of the Senate, Bukola Saraki, refused to allow the former minority leader contribute to a point of order earlier raised by Bassey Akpan.
Akpan raised a point of order accusing the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Akwa Ibom State of plotting to cause mayhem in the forthcoming general election.
When Akpan finished amidst disruption from Senators from the ruling APC, Saraki noted Akpan’s statement and asked the Senate Leader, Ahmed Lawan, to proceed with other items on the Order Paper.
Even though Akpabio raised his hand, Saraki refused to recognise him to speak on the ground that he was not appropriately seated.
Saraki said, “Senator… eh… former Minority Leader, you know you can’t speak from there. You can’t. Go to your seat, when you get to your seat, I’ll recognise you.”
He, thereafter, asked the leader of the Senate to proceed with other items on the Order Paper.
But when Ahmed Lawan, stood up to speak, he defended Akpabio’s right to be rcognised.
Lawan said, “If he decides to sit there, let him. There is no microphone there. Let us not take the panadol for his headache. Let me advise, that even though we have only six, seven months to go, let’s do what is right.”
According to him, the Clerk of the Senate allocated the sit to Akpabio – a statement Saraki refuted stating that he directed the Clerk to allocate seats to lawmakers.
The development lead to uproar in the chamber as lawmakers began to shout at each other with each person defending his party.
The rowdiness lasted for sometime before Emmanuel Paulker (PDP, Bayelsa) got up to speak but he was also cut short by noise from Senators.
After several minutes of rowdiness, Akpabio stood up to explain that the seat was allocated to him by the Clerk.
“I was seeking your attention to re-appraise you of Order 11. The seat was allocated to me by the Clerk and I expect that you were notified. The embarrassment I got today was uncalled for. I demand an apology, not just written but verbal too.”
Akpabio was, however, cut short by more noise from lawmakers. This time the APC lawmakers were demanding an apology from the Senate President.
In the end, it was Akpabio while apologising to his colleagues who hinted of a possible leadership change in the Senate.
He said, “In view of the situation of the Senate today, I want to apologise to my colleagues and I raised my voice earlier and to say that until the Senate is well constituted and the seats are well arranged, I want to hold my peace.”
Akpabio made his position clearer while answering questions from journalists after the plenary by calling on all principal officers who cross carpeted to resign their positions.
The resignation challenge apparently, is aimed at the Senate president, Bukola Saraki, who defected from the APC to the PDP and is the only one left in the leadership of the Senate to have changed political parties.
Akpabio said, “I moved from PDP to APC, to make sure that this government works before the election. It should not be all about the election, it should be first about Nigeria. Let others also move in the national interest.
“I did not just move like that, I was a (Minority) Leader in the Senate. I resigned my position in order to show that, yes, I meant business. Let others who also have positions in the Senate who wish to also cross carpet from one political party to another also resign their positions and take a cue from what Godswill Akpabio did.”