A mild drama played out in the Senate on Tuesday as former Gombe State Governor, Senator Danjuma Goje, openly confronted Senate President Godswill Akpabio, accusing him of engaging in conduct that violated parliamentary rules.
The Senate was already in session with Deputy Senate President Jibrin Barau presiding when Akpabio walked in and assumed control of proceedings. Moments after taking the chair, he summoned Senate Leader Opeyemi Bamidele and a few other principal officers for an impromptu consultation at the front of the chamber.
Goje, visibly displeased, immediately raised Order 55 (12)(a), which prohibits side interactions during plenary, insisting that Akpabio’s action amounted to a breach of parliamentary decorum.
“Interaction is not allowed except to move the business that we have been called upon to do,” Goje said pointedly. “Mr. Senate President, what you are doing is unparliamentary. You are disturbing the business of the Senate. You cannot be holding a separate meeting when the Senate is in session.”
Akpabio responded by inviting Goje to approach the chair for clarification, but the senator refused.
“I cannot be part of what is illegal and unparliamentary,” he declared. “What we are doing here, everything is at a standstill now. We are not doing business.”
When Akpabio replied with a curt “noted,” Goje shot back, “Noted, but not sustained?”
Efforts by Akpabio to calm the situation proved unsuccessful as Goje insisted the cluster of senators at the chair disperse so plenary could resume properly.
Akpabio, offering an explanation, said the brief meeting was to determine whether the Senate should proceed in view of a scheduled appointment at the Presidential Villa by 1 p.m.
“Everybody you see here was invited by the chair for a brief discussion in continuation of today’s sitting,” he said, again urging Goje to join the discussion. “Please, approach the chair so you can also be part of it.”
But Goje declined.
“I don’t want to be part of it. I’m opposed to this. I will not come. It’s unparliamentary. It’s wrong,” he maintained.
He later reminded the chamber that the day’s sitting coincided with the launch of the Armed Forces Remembrance Day Emblem at the Presidential Villa.
The confrontation left plenary briefly stalled before normal proceedings eventually resumed.
