Plenary was marred by a rowdy session on Thursday as President of the Senate, Godswill Akpabio ordered Sergeants -at-arms to throw Senator Natasha Uduaghan , representing Kogi Central out of the chamber after she refused to relocate to another seat in the senate.
The trouble started after the Chief Whip, Mohammed Monguno, informed Akpabio about Senator Natasha’s refusal to relocate to a new seat allocated to her to properly fill the space created by the defection of two senators from the opposition to the ruling All Progressives Congress in the chamber.
Coming on Order 24 and 6, Monguno emphasised his power and those of the President of the Senate on matters such as this -and concluded that it is within the discretion of the Senate President to change senators’ seats as the situation may warrant.
According to Monguno, a senator can only speak from the seat allocated to him or her , stressing that the Senate President can then go ahead to exercise his power not to allow a senator to contribute to any matter from a seat not allocated to him or her.
Almost instantly, Natasha sprung up, trying frantically to come on Order 10-suggesting that her privileges had been breached.
But it was a little too late-Monguno’s Orders had already been sustained -and Akpabio was not willing to hear what Natasha had to say from the seat that had been taken from her.
Akpabio immediately ordered the Sergeants-at-arms to evict Natasha out of the chamber as the senator from Kogi Central continued to protest loudly -still unwilling to let go of her seat or leave the chamber.
By this time-, Sergeants -at -arms had taken position, ready to escort Natasha out before a few senators including Natasha’s next door neighbour, Senator Austin Akobundu stopped them.
Down the chamber, other emissaries of peace had quickly approached Akpabio to appeal to him.
Their intervention somehow managed to douse all of the tensions, leaving Natasha occupying her seat and staying put in the chamber.
