Senate in rowdy session over sitting arrangement

There was a rowdy session in the Senate on Wednesday due to the sitting arrangement of senators.

At the centre of the rowdiness are Senators Godswill Akpabio (APC, A/Ibom) and Dino Melaye ( PDP, Kogi).

A Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) senator from Akwa Ibom State, Bassey Akpan, had raised a matter of personal explanation on an alleged plan by the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state to cause violence during the coming governorship election in the state which will eventually lead to the cancellation of the poll.

Trouble started when Akpabio raised his hand to speak on the matter, but Senate President Bukola Saraki said he could not speak from the seat he was sitting as there was no microphone there.

Akpabio then protested, saying he must be allowed to speak, but Saraki said he should move to a seat where there was microphone.

At this point, Melaye left his seat to that of Akpabio and was shouting on top of his voice.

Also, Senate Leader Ahmad Lawan (APC, Yobe) raised an issue that as at present, there is no organized sitting arrangement at the Senate as some senators had left the political parties under whose platforms they won elections.

Some APC senators then protested that Saraki was discriminating among the senators as he had allowed other lawmakers to speak from seats not allocated to them.

The rowdiness lasted for about 30 minutes.

When Akpabio was eventually allowed to speak, PDP senators protested, with Melaye interrupting him.

Akpabio later demanded an apology for being embarrassed‎ because of seat, saying the seat he sat on was allocated to him by the Clerk of the Senate.

However, when Saraki called the Clerk to explain if he was the one that allocated the seat to Akpabio, the Clerk said it was the former Senate Minority Leader that insisted on sitting there despite being told that there is no microphone fixed.

Akpabio later apologized to his colleagues and shelved the issue he wanted to raise until sitting arrangement was rectified.