By Nicholas Walter
The Senate tried to let members of President Bola Tinubu’s economic team into the National Assembly in Abuja on Wednesday, which caused a little controversy.
In order to permit visitors to enter the chamber, Senate Leader Opeyemi Bamidele (APC, Ekiti Central) has sought to suspend Order 12.”The Director-General of the Budget Office, Zacchaeus Adedeji, the Chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue Tax, and tax experts and consultants were to attend the plenary to explain the Tax Reform Bills to lawmakers in detail,” Bamidele stated.
Senator Abdul Ningi (PDP), the representative for Bauchi Central, however, got up right away after the submission and read from the Order a list of the names of individuals who were permitted entry into the Senate session in accordance with Senate regulations.
According to Ningi, such a discussion was better suited for a committee setting and ought to be delegated to the finance committee and possibly appropriations to facilitate communication with the teams.
Jibrin Barau (APC, Kano North), the deputy president of the Senate, responded by explaining that the Senate had suspended its norm to promote transparency and enable Nigerians to watch the live proceedings and hear the discussion on the Tax Reform Bills.
He then requested that the Senate leader address the order that he was subject to.
“Mr. President, I listened to the Point of Order raised by the most distinguished, highly respected, and well-revered former chairman of the House and Senate, distinguished Senator Abdul Ningi,” Bamidele replied.
Now, let me explain, Mr. President. My motion was for suspension rather than Order 12 invocation.
Those who are authorized to speak in this sacred chamber and the exceptions that may be made are discussed in Order 12.However, an application for suspension indicates that the rule is no longer applicable.
For the sake of our working relationship, sir, let me also amend my motion by adding that, in addition to my motion to suspend Order 12 on floor privileges, I am also coming under Order 1B, which states that the Senate shall regulate its procedure in all cases where there is no specific provision or rule.
Let it be said, Mr. President, that my motion is predicated on the suspension of Order 12 of our rules as well as the invocation of Order 1B. We want to know, and Nigerians must know.
Let’s listen to these folks. Following his explanation, the deputy president hit the gavel in favor of the ayes and put the question to a voice vote.
Ndume got up shortly after and stated that the Order Paper should have included this crucial issue and that, as it wasn’t a Supplementary Order Paper, it need to be printed or postponed until another parliamentary day.
After providing an explanation, Barau declared that they should confront the facts and refrain from using rhetoric.
He then declared Ndume out of order.Ndume rose up and raised another Point of Order shortly after the economic team members were admitted to the session, claiming that the Deputy Senate President’s description of his remark as “rhetoric” was offensive.
“Therefore, I demand that you apologize,” he said.Barau responded by laughing and stating that rhetoric was not an insult and that it was a generalization rather than a direct answer to his remark. Barau declared Ndume out of order once more
