The Senate on Wednesday descended into disorder for over 15 minutes as a heated clash broke out between Senate President Godswill Akpabio and Senator Adams Oshiomhole over the reading and interpretation of amended standing rules.
Trouble started when Akpabio began with the reading of Votes and Proceedings of Tuesday, just as Oshiomhole (APC, Edo North) raised a point of order, and the President of the Senate had to remind him of the rules of the Senate as contained in the Standing Order 2023 as amended: that during this point of going through the Votes and Proceedings, a point of order is not always taken.
- When Oshiomhole continued, Akpabio called the former Chief Whip, Senator Orji Kalu, APC, Abia North, to educate Oshiomhole on the rules, and Kalu said the same as the President of the Senate: that there was no point of order at this point.
At this point, Oshiomhole did not stop, and the whip, Senator Tahir Monguno, APC, Borno North, warned that if the Edo North senator continues, he will invoke the powers he has and then asked Oshiomhole to be guided.
Akpabio then continued at this point, pages 194, 195. Oshiomhole then continued, just as the latter advised that they must all read the rules and went to Order 20().
Akpabio said, “We should not just go home, buy forms and come here without knowing the rules.
He then issued a strong warning to Oshiomhole, cautioning him against further disruption. “Oshiomhole, if you become unruly, we will use the rules to take you out of the Senate,” he said.
Akpabio then continued and rounded off, with Senator Adamu Aliero, APC, Kebbi Central, moving for the adoption of the votes and proceedings and seconded by the Senate Minority Leader, Senator Abba Moro, PDP, Benue South.
Oshiomhole’s outburst may not be unconnected with Tuesday’s amendment of the Senate rules.
Recall that ahead of the 2027 presidential and general elections, the Senate on Tuesday put in place moves to scheme out incoming senators for the 11th National Assembly from contesting for the position of President of the Senate and amended its standing rule, limiting the eligibility of candidates for the Senate presidency to only candidates in the 9th and 10th assemblies.
According to the new amendment of the Senate standing order, the Senate has narrowed the scope of eligibility for senators-elect for principal and presiding positions to only two-term senators who will be eligible to vie for any principal office.
With this development, it appears that it has shut the door of eligibility against would-be senators in the 11th National Assembly in June 2027, like Senators Hope Uzodimma, Imo; Kabiru Marafa, Zamfara Central; Adams Oshiomhole, Edo North; among others.
The Senate, after about three hours of a closed-door session, amended orders 4 and 5 of its standing rules to edge out those who were not in the 9th and current 10th Senate.
The new amendment went further to state that one of the two consecutive terms must immediately precede such nomination.
The immediate implication of this is that only members of the 10th Assembly who are re-elected in the 11th Senate will be eligible to contest for the positions.
The Senate explains that the new standing rule is to engender strict compliance with the parliamentary tradition of ranking.
The amended order 4 states: “Nomination of Senators to serve as Presiding Officers shall be in accordance with the ranking of Senators and shall be strictly adhered to.
“The order of ranking are (i) Former President of the Senate , (ii) Former Deputy President of the Senate , ( iii) Former Principal Officers of the Senate , ( iv) Senators who had served at least one term of four years , ( v) Senators who had been members of the House of Representatives , ( vi) In the absence of i to v, Senators elected into the Senate for the first time ” .
Aside from the order of ranking used to narrow the window of eligibility among senators-elect for the presiding positions, the 10th Senate went further with an additional provision in Order 5 to knock off freshers in the contest.
The order states, “Any Senator shall not be eligible to contest for any Principal Office of the Senate unless he has served as a Senator for at least two consecutive terms immediately preceding nomination”, which means that Senators who were not in the 9th and current 10th Senate are not eligible to vie for presiding officers’ positions in the 11th Senate.
Presiding officers’ positions in the Senate are President of the Senate and Deputy President of the Senate.
Principal officer positions are Senate Leader, Deputy Senate Leader, Chief Whip and Deputy Whip of the Senate.
Others are minority leader, deputy minority leader, minority whip and deputy minority whip.
