The Senate on Thursday adjourned plenary till Tuesday, July 2, so as to allow for allocation of seats and offices to senators. This was sequel to a motion moved by the Deputy Senate President, Senator Ovie Omo-Agege, and seconded by Senator Philip Aduda after a one-hour close-door session.
Senate president Ahmed Lawan said the two weeks break was to allow the National Assembly management work with a 12-member ad-hoc committee headed by Senator Abu Kyari, saddled with house-keeping issues for the lawmakers, including allocation of offices and seats to the senators.
“The Senate will set up an ad-hoc committee to work with management of the National Assembly for the allocation of our seats in the Senate and allocation of offices as well. It has two weeks to complete its assignment,” Lawan said.
The committee, which has members drawn from the six geo-political zones as announced by Lawan, has two weeks to submit its report and will work with the Clerk of the Senate, Nelson Ayewoh.
Senators in the committee include Abubakar Kyari (Chairman), Aisha Modibo, Gabriel Suswam, Sabi Abdullahi, Betty Apiafi, Bassey Akpan, and Jibrin Barau. Others are Ibrahim Gobir, Nicholas Tofowomo, Adeola Olamilekan, Chukwuka Utazi, and Stella Oduah.
The decision to embark on the 2-week break was taken at a closed session of the Senate, which lasted for almost an hour. During the closed door session, the 9th Senate rejected a motion raised through a point of order by a Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) senator, Istifanius Dung Gyang, urging the upper legislative chamber to debate the speech President Muhammadu Buhari’s Democracy Day speech.
The motion was shut down in a voice vote, which saw more senators opting not to back the motion.
Gyang, relying on Order 52
of Senate Rules, said he was bringing a matter of Urgent National importance that has to do with the Democracy Day speech of President Muhammadu Buhari of the 12th June 2019.
“This speech is already in the public domain,’ Senator Gyang said.
The Senate President, however, cut him short, saying he had to seek the consent of the senators for the approval whether he should proceed or not. The motion was shut down as the nays carried the day.
