- By Halimah Olamide
A rowdy session enveloped the resumption of the Senate to the plenary on Tuesday as three senators engaged in a heated argument over the sitting arrangements.
The drama commenced immediately after the procession, the Senate President, GodsWill Akpabio, read out announcements, specifically the names of the lawmakers who had celebrated their birthdays while the Senate was on break.
The Senators are using the renovated chamber for the first time today, this is coming 19 months after the closure of the Hallowed Chamber.
Recall that both the House of Representatives and the Senate moved to temporary chambers in September 2022 after commencement of renovation work on their Hallowed Chambers by Visible Construction Company Nigeria Limited in July 2022.
It was while the announcement was ongoing that Senator Sahabi Yau (APC, Zamfara North) started to raise his voice at the Senate leader, Opeyemi Bamidele (APC, Ekiti Central) while he in return pointed his finger at Yau as if giving him a stern warning.
Immediately, Danjuma Goje (APC, Gombe Central) joined his colleague Yau in shouting at Bamidele and the chairman, of Senate Services, Sunday Karimi (APC, Kogi West) who was in charge of the seating arrangements.
Some ranking Senators were said to have been angry at the seats allocated to them in the front row on the last right side of the aisle.
The Senate President eventually told them to approach the chair one after the other but Yau didn’t oblige him.
The rowdy session lasted for about 20 minutes as senators bickered.
After the Senate President read his welcome-back speech, the Senate leader, moved that the Senate resolved into a closed-door session.
The Senate after that, at about 12: 05 pm resolved into an executive session.