Senate In Emergency Closed Session After Ali Ndume Stages Walkout

The Senate president, Godswill Akpabio, has called for an emergency closed session of the Senate during plenary on Tuesday, Naija News reports.

It was gathered the emergency closed session was a sequel to a walkout of the chambers by the Chief Whip of the Senate, Senator Mohammed Ali Ndume, after Senate President Godswill Akpabio ruled him out of order.

The Senate Chief Whip was reported to have cited order 54 of the Senate Standing Orders and raised a point of order.

Ndume, after raising the order, called the Senate President’s attention to his approach to handling issues and how he disagrees with it.

He said: “Mr. President, there are some things we do in this chamber that are against the rules. Sir, nobody is too big to learn…”

However, Akpabio interjected at that point and called for a copy of the Standing Orders.

He proceeded to read order 54 and said it did not support the point Ndume was making and thereafter ruled him out of order.

Following this, Ndume packed files papers on his desk and, stormed out of the Chamber and went straight to his office.

He was reportedly just settling down when he received a call from a colleague to return to the chamber for an executive session.

The executive session was still ongoing as of the time of filing this report.