There was mild drama at the Senate on Tuesday as the Chief Whip, Ali Ndume stormed out of the Chamber after he was ruled out of order by Senate President Godswill Akpabio.
Ndume had raised a point of order, citing Order 54 of the Senate Rule Book to draw the attention of the Senate President to his handling of affairs in the chambers, which were against the rules.
He said: “Mr. President there are some things we do in this chamber that are against the rules. Sir, nobody is too big to learn.”
The error referred to, by Ndume, was a motion moved by Senator Summaila Kawu (NNPP Kano South), for debate on the need for re-opening of Nigerian-Niger Border, without stating the title of his motion.
Ndume who rose through order 51 of the Senate standing rules, requested the Senate President to allow for correction of any error made or observed in plenary.
Ndume said, ” This is the Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria guided by laws, rules and procedures. If in the course of proceedings at any session, errors are observed, they must be corrected before forging ahead with such proceeding.”
But Akpabio quickly intercepted him by saying having ruled on issues raised, it can not be revisited and consequently ruled Ndume out of order.
Senator Sunday Karimi (APC Kogi West), spiritedly attempted to sustain Ndume’s line of argument through another point of order but was also swiftly ruled out of order by Senate President, Godswill Akpabio.
In a troubleshooting effort, the Deputy President of the Senate, Jibrin Barau, quickly rose to read order 16, which requires a substantive motion to be moved by any Senator for correction or review of the earlier decision taken.
Sustaining Barau’s point of order by Akpabio, infuriated Ndume by raising another point of order (order 54) to seek correction of the perceived error.
Akpabio had hardly allowed Ndume to end his speech when he ruled him out of order.
A visibly enraged Ndume then stormed out of the chamber and went straight to his office.
The Chief Whip was just settling down when he received a call from a colleague to return to the chamber for an executive session.