It was a shameful drama on the floor of the Senate chamber this morning as senators exchanged blows over a heated debate on the State of the Nation Bill, which was earlier passed by the Senate and the House of Representatives and to which President Goodluck Jonathan refused assent.
The bill was to make it compulsory for President Jonathan to present a state-of-the-nation address to the National Assembly at intervals. Apart, from this, the National Assembly would have the power to summon the president when the need arises.
The senators had met, many of them believing that the upper legislative house would end the day vetoing the president. However, at the plenary today, tempers flared as the senators argued for and against, thus polarising the chamber mainly between the ruling Peoples Democratic Party and the opposition.
As the deliberations commenced on the president’s letter, some lawmakers faulted the president’s call for amendments to the bill, and instead advocated moves to override Jonathan’s veto on the bill.
Senator Ita Enang asked the Senate to seek an interpretation from the Supreme Court to know if the president has powers to make amendments to a bill sent to him for assent by the National Assembly.
Shortly after that submission, Senate President, David Mark called for an adjournment, but it all went downhill from there as the session went rowdy.
Many of the senators argued for the apex legislative body to veto the president, but the situation was further provoked by the attempt of Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu to coerce his colleagues into voting for the suspension of the bill.
Ekweremadu had told the senators: “Sections 88 b and c. 58 of the constitution says once a bill is proposed by NASS, the president has three options. Let’s take advantage of Section 88, send it to the conference committee and let them advise us if we should override the president’s veto.”
He said this would allow experts look into it but the members refused. A call for adjournment was also refused by a majority of the members, and chaos was the consequence.
The argument became hot as the senators engaged themselves in verbal attacks, which later turned into a fight between Senator Kabiru Garba Marafa from Zamfara on the platform of the Congress for Political Change (CPC) and Senator Paulinus Igwe from Ebonyi State on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). The Senate later adjourned deliberation on the bill.
Addressing journalists after the sitting, spokesperson for the Senate, Enyinnaya Abaribe said there was no fight between members of the Senate but that it was just a normal reaction to an issue under deliberation.
Meanwhile, Senate spokesperson, Enyinaya Abaribe explained that the near fisticuff between the lawmakers had nothing to do with the debate on the state of the nation address bill.
The Senate did not specifically say if it would go with the recommendation by Senator Enang to seek for interpretation from the Supreme Court but the Senate President appealed to lawmakers to defer resolutions on the bill until they are better informed on the best measure to adopt.
