FCT, Abuja – The Senators from Kogi State have apologised to Godswill Akpabio and the Senate on behalf of their colleague, Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, who had a confrontation with the Senate president over the sitting arrangement during plenary......CONTINUE READING THE ARTICLE FROM THE SOURCE>>>>>
In a trending video, the Kogi senator’s seat was relocated during plenary in the Senate. However, Senator Natasha refused to comply with the change in sitting arrangement and demanded an explanation of why her seat was changed without her consent.
Why Akpabio did not recognise Natasha during plenary
Senate President Akpabio did not call her when she raised her hand to ask questions, but she was denied the recognition because she was not sitting in her seat and this led to her outburst against the leadership of the Red Chamber.
The Kogi lawmaker also accused the Senate president of sidelining her. She alleged that she has been denied on several occasions of presenting bills for a second reading since their last confrontation.
Speaking later in the day on what transpired, the other senators from the North-Central state, Senator Jibrin Isah of Kogi East and Karimi Sunday Steve (Kogi West) begged the senate leadership and Akpabio not to take disciplinary action against their colleagues.
What Kogi senators are saying about Natasha
They noted that the change of her seat location was due to the defection of two senators. This literarily means that her seat be moved to the front, citing the Senate standing order. The senators promised to enlighten her on the Senate standing order and begged Akpabio-led leadership not to take any disciplinary action against her.
Senator Isah, who first spoke on the matter, said:
“I want to refer to Order 6, which says, the president of the Senate shall allocate a seat to each senator. A senator can only speak from the seat allocated to him, provided the President of the Senate may change their location from time to time.”
The Kogi East senator then proceeded to plead on behalf of Natasha and the people of Kogi state. He noted that the change of seat became necessary after two senators defected. He said:
“The action from my colleague senator from Kogi state this morning is uncalled for. I want to sincerely apologise on behalf of Kogi caucus to the Senate president and the entire senate.”
See the video of the moment here: