Politics

Motion On Nigeria-Niger Border Closure Causes Uproar In Senate

Senate President Godswill Akpabio, on Tuesday, suddenly called for an emergency closed session during plenary the moment the Chief Whip, Senator Ali Ndume, angrily staged a walk out.

Ndume, who is representing Borno South Senatorial District on the platform of the All-Progressives Congress (APC), had raised a point of order on alleged errors committed and not corrected by Akpabio.

The error referred to by Ndume was a motion moved by Senator Summaila Kawu (NNPP Kano South) for debate on the need for re-open the Nigeria-Niger Border without reading the title of his motion.

Ndume, who rose through order 51 of the Senate standing rules, requested the Senate President to allow for correction of any error made or observed in plenary.

“This is the Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria guided by laws, rules and procedures. If in the course of proceedings at any session, errors are observed, they must be corrected before forging ahead with such proceeding. Nobody is above learning. The Senate President should note that,” he said.

Senator Sunday Karimi (APC Kogi West) made attempts to sustain Ndume’s line of argument through another point of order but was also ruled out of order by the Senate President.

The Deputy President of the Senate, Jibrin Barau, quickly rose to read order 16, which required a substantive motion to be moved by any Senator for correction or review of earlier decision taken.

The decision by Akpabio to sustain Barau’s point of order, made Ndume to raise order 54 to correct the perceived error.

Akpabio demanded the standing order book from the Clerk to the Senate and read it out. He then told Ndume that the order did not support his line of argument.

The Senate President subsequently ruled him out of order without being allowed to defend his argument.

Not satisfied with Akpabio’s ruling, Ndume packed his documents and stormed out of the chamber and went straight to his office.

The Chief Whip was just settling down in his office when he received a call from a colleague to return to the chamber for an executive session.

The executive session lasted about one and half hours.

Sumaila, who moved the motion on the border closure, stated that the development had increased crime rate in the states that bordered Niger Republic and had led to massive job lost.

He claimed that the closure of the border by the member states of the Economic Community of West African States ran contrary to the provisions of the constitution of Nigeria that guaranteed the security and welfare of the people,which he said should be the paramount and primary purpose of the government.

He urged the federal government to reconsider reopening of the border between Nigeria and Niger to allow for free movement of trade and business of the two countries as commercial activities had drastically gone down in these areas.

Stressing that both Nigeria and Niger had signed bilateral trade agreements to allow free movement, he said the borders ran contrary and violated the agreement, maintaining also that Nigerians should not be allowed to suffer such untold hardship for whatever reasons.

Akpabio, however, noted that since the issue had to do with security, the motion would be stepped down to allow for further consultations.

Sunday Aborisade in Abuja

Follow us on:

AriseNews

Recent Posts

Victor Okhai: Trump’s Presidency Could Be a Game-Changer, Cause Nigeria To Look Inward And Break Free From Foreign Aid Dependency

Victor Okhai has argued that Trump’s presidency could encourage Nigeria to reduce foreign aid reliance…

30 mins ago

Equatorial Guinea Suspends Officials Involved In Sexual Misconduct In Government Offices

Equatorial Guinea's VP has announced the suspension of officials involved in sexual misconduct within government…

36 mins ago

IGP Egbetokun Orders Investigation Into Treatment Of Minors In Police Detention

Following outrage over the arraignment of minors, IGP Egbetokun has directed a probe into minors’…

58 mins ago

Voting Begins in US Presidential Election As Trump And Harris Face Off

Americans are headed to the polls to choose the next president in a tightly contested…

3 hours ago

Court Dismisses Case Against Protesters Charged Over Protests, Releases Minors Charged With Treason

An Abuja court has struck out the case against #EndBadGovernance protesters as the AGF discontinued…

4 hours ago

Britain Detects Two Additional Cases Of New Mpox Variant, Total Reaches Three

The UK has confirmed two more cases of the new mpox variant, clade Ib

4 hours ago