Chaos in Senate over leadership

An argument erupted in the Senate on Tuesday when the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, announced two new leaders from the minority group.

The previous leaders of the Senate Minority (the person who represents the smaller political group in the Senate) and the Minority Whip (the second-in-command to the Minority Leader) lost their positions after a higher court removed them. Senator Simon Davou Mwadkwon (from Plateau North) and Darlington Nwokocha (from Abia Central) lost their jobs because of this decision.

The court said that Mwadkwon’s win in the election wasn’t valid and ordered a new election. Nwokocha was replaced because Augustine Akobundu of the PDP was declared the real winner of the election in that area, which happened on February 25.

Last week, senators from the PDP had an urgent meeting to decide who would replace these important positions. They chose the North Central part of Nigeria to provide the new leader of the minority group in the Senate.

During the Senate meeting on Tuesday, Akpabio announced Abba Moro (from Benue South) as the minority leader and Osita Ngwu (from Enugu West) as the minority whip. He said these choices had the support of most opposition senators.

A total of 41 minority senators supported Moro as the minority leader, while 30 supported Ngwu for the minority whip position. However, some senators from other parties in the minority group, especially the Labour Party, didn’t agree with this decision.

Senator Okechukwu Ezea (from Enugu North) from the Labour Party complained that his party wasn’t included in the leadership decisions, calling it unfair to other minority parties.

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The Senate became chaotic as lawmakers from the Labour Party rejected their party’s exclusion from the minority leadership.

Amidst the chaos, Senator Tony Nwoyi (from Anambra North) accused Akpabio of choosing leaders for the opposition parties, which led to further tension. Some lawmakers from the ruling party tried to calm their Labour Party colleagues, and a few approached Akpabio for discussion.

After about 15 minutes of chaos, the Senate President addressed the opposition lawmakers, stating that he only announced the names given to him by the opposition group. He urged the opposition to settle their internal disputes before presenting names to him.

Efforts to convince Akpabio to wait on deciding the minority whip position failed, as he cited Senate rules and proceeded with his decision.