There was a mild drama as well as rowdy session in the Senate on Tuesday, when the Senator representing Gombe Central Senatorial District, Danjuma Goje, challenged the President of the Senate, Senator Godswill Akpabio, for indulging in what he described as “unparliamentary act”.
Goje made his grievance known to his colleagues by raising a point of order, anchored on Order 55 (12) (a), which states that “interaction is not allowed” during plenary.
He told Akpabio, who had invited the Senate Leader, Senator Opeyemi Bamidele, and other Senators to his table, that “interaction is not allowed except to move the business that we have been called upon to do”.
Goje said: “What I’m trying to say, Mr. President, is that what is happening now is unparliamentary. What you are doing here is unparliamentary. You should have done this outside. When we come to Parliament, we do parliamentary business.
“I want you to listen to this. What we are doing here, everything is at standstill now. We are not doing business”.
Akpabio who said Goje’s point of order was noted, however, failed to pacify Goje as the Gombe former Governor fired back that the point of order was merely “noted” and “not sustained”.
Senator Goje then insisted that the Senators holding meeting with the President the President of the Senate “should leave there so that the Senate will move on”.
Akpabio agreed that he was going to ask them to move on, but offered Goje an olive branch to join the meeting, which Goje turned down.
Akpabio then told Goje that “everybody that 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 have just read, whether or not we should proceed in view of a very urgent assignment at the Villa by one o’clock”.
“Please, approach the Chair so you can also… you can be part”, Akpabio said, but Goje said “I don’t want to be part of it. I’m opposed to this one. I will not come. It’s unparliamentary. It’s wrong”.
He then said “I just want to inform you that today is the Armed Forces Emblem Launch, which will take place about now at the Presidential Villa”, which he said he was hurrying to be part of.
