SENATE: Ndume Walks Out On Akpabio Barely 2 Months After Threatening ‘Drastic Action’

At Wednesday’s session of the Senate, Chief Whip, Ali Ndume, left the plenary after the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, ruled him out of order.

The disagreement arose when Ndume cited Senate Rule 54, asserting his role as responsible for guiding the Senate on procedural matters during plenary.

He attempted to draw the Senate President’s attention to alleged errors in proceedings.

Specifically, Ndume pointed out an error related to a motion by Senator Summaila Kawu, which omitted the motion’s title.

But after hearing Ndume’s argument, Akpabio disregarded his argument and ruled him out of order.

Following this, Ndume left the plenary but returned after receiving a call that the Senate had moved into a closed session.

THE WHISTLER reports that the incident is a part of a broader context, as Senator Ndume had previously issued a stern warning of “drastic action” against Akpabio for always disregarding laid out procedure in presiding over the upper legislative chamber.

This website reported that Ndume had slammed the Senate President for revealing during a live plenary session that each senator had received a sum of N2 million as a recess allowance.

The revelation raised public reactions and invited renewed scrutiny into the remuneration of federal lawmakers.

Senator Ndume clarified that the allowance was a standard practice for senators and criticized Akpabio for misrepresenting the situation, noting that such comments were unbecoming of an elder in the Senate.

During the live plenary session, Akpabio retracted his initial statement after other lawmakers pointed out that the session was being streamed live.