There was a mild drama in the Senate on Tuesday after Senate President Godswill Akpabio temporarily halted proceedings to confer privately with a group of lawmakers, drawing sharp objection from Senator Danjuma Goje (APC-Gombe Central).
Akpabio arrived in the chamber around 12:10 p.m. while plenary, presided over by Deputy Senate President Barau Jibrin, was already in progress.
He smoothly took over as senators considered scheduled bills.
Barely ten minutes later, the Senate President summoned the Senate Leader, Opeyemi Bamidele, to his seat for a private consultation. Soon, other senators—including Asuquo Ekpenyong (Cross River South), Adamu Aliero (Kebbi Central), Jimoh Ibrahim (Ondo South), Titus Zam (Benue North-West), and Barau Jibrin gathered around his chair.
The discussions, which lasted over 40 minutes, brought the plenary to a halt.
Many senators left their seats to chat among themselves, while others engaged in side conversations, leaving the chamber noisy and disorganised.
Dissatisfied with the disruption, Goje raised a point of order, warning that prolonged private consultations during an active session violated Senate procedure.
He cited Order 55 of the Senate Standing Rules, which prohibits interruptions to ongoing proceedings, insisting that such discussions should be held outside the chamber.
‘Interaction is not allowed. What is happening now is unparliamentary’, Goje said. ‘You should have taken this meeting outside. Everything is at a standstill; this is not our actual business.
‘We should go on recess; when we are ready, we can return and meet you’.
Responding, Akpabio explained that he had invited the senators for a brief consultation on an urgent assignment scheduled for 1 p.m. at the Presidential Villa.
‘Everybody you see here was invited by the chair for a brief discussion in continuation of today’s sitting and in line with the order you’ve just read, whether or not we should proceed in view of a very urgent assignment at the Villa’, he said.
Akpabio then asked Goje to approach the chair and join the discussion, an invitation the former governor declined.
‘I don’t want to be part of it’, Goje replied.
