The upper house was in disarray on October 17, 2018, when Godswill Akpabio, who represented Akwa Ibom North-West, and then-Senate President Bukola Saraki argued over a seating arrangement issue during the Senate session.
Senator Albert Akpan, who represents Akwa Ibom North-East, accused the All Progressives Congress (APC) of preparing to sabotage the state’s 2019 gubernatorial election, which sparked the incident.
Eager to respond, Akpabio tried using the microphone in Senator Ali Ndume’s seat as his own was broken.
He was told to shift to another seat with a working microphone, which the Senate clerk had allocated him, after Saraki refused to give him permission.
Akpabio’s insistence on using Ndume’s microphone caused a disturbance and chaos in the chamber.
Amid the clamor, the Senate clerk disclosed that Akpabio had previously been presented with a microphone-equipped seat but had chosen to take one without.
After the contentious session, Akpabio went further in his remarks to reporters, demanding Saraki’s resignation on the grounds that the APC had won the Senate majority.
The event happened a few months after Akpabio joined the APC and left the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
Curiously, a similar argument over yet another change in seating arrangements occurred on Thursday between Kogi Central senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan and Akpabio, who is now Senate President.
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Remember how it was previously reported that Akpoti-Uduaghan interrupted the plenary session by invading her seat?
It was understood that the Akpabio-supervised session was underway when Chief Whip Senator Mohammed Ali Monguno brought up the issue of what he called Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan’s “improper seating position.”
Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan burst into a boisterous altercation before Monguno could complete his statement, forcing the Sergeant-at-Arms to step in and try to accompany her out of the chamber.
