Senate President Godswill Akpabio has said lawmakers who reclaimed their electoral mandate through the courts are part of the problem of the Senate.
Gatekeepers News reports that Akpabio said this on Tuesday while announcing that Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, lawmaker representing Kogi Central would face disciplinary action following her outburst over seat reallocation.
Natasha had on February 20 disrupted plenary by rejecting her assigned seat, defying the senate President’s order and repeatedly raising a point of order despite being overruled.
During Tuesday’s plenary, Akpabio said the altercation stemmed from a lack of understanding of senate guidelines and directed the national assembly management to organise periodic orientation for senators.
He said, “I think part of the problem is when people come from court… court-declared senators; they missed the orientation.”
“The management of the national assembly is hereby ordered to organise periodic orientation, particularly for senators who are midstreamers, who came midstream and did not start when their colleagues started.”
“I remember that this particular senator (Natasha), on the day she was sworn in, raised her hand to speak. I was scared, but I had to recognise her, because I was saying we just gave her the rule book.”
“Part of what we give to you when you are sworn in is the standing order of the senate. I asked if she opened the rule book to know what to say, but she made a contribution on that day. I think two days later she brought a motion.”
“There is nothing wrong in being vibrant, but there is a lot wrong when you don’t know anything about the procedure.”
