Rowdy session as senators fight over seats in refurbished chamber

The upper legislative chamber experienced a rowdy session on Tuesday after three senators engaged in a heated debate. 

Danjuma Goje, senator representing Gombe central, and Sahabi Yau, senator representing Zamfara north, expressed displeasure over the seats assigned to them, and complained to Opeyemi Bamidele, majority leader.

The senate is using its refurbished chamber, two years after renovation began on it.

According to the standing rules of the upper legislative chamber, senators should sit in order of rank.

The senate’s Easter and Sallah recess was postponed to accommodate the completion of the renovation of both chambers of the national assembly.

However, while Senate President Godswill Akpabio read his welcome address, the heated argument among the three senators began.

It was learnt that Goje and Yau, sitting on the second row on the right side of the aisle, did not like the seats allocated to them by the senate committee on services.

Sunday Karimi, senator representing Kogi west, is chair of the senate services committee.

The four-term senators subsequently insisted that they should have been assigned seats on the front row on the extreme right — opposite the row of the majority leader and the deputy senate president.

After the argument, Kawu Sumaila, senator representing Kano south, called for a “point of order” which was ignored.

Thereafter, Bamidele moved a motion for a closed-session, which the senate is currently in.