Commotion in Senate as PDP, APC senators clash over Akwa Ibom primaries
Plenary at the Senate on Wednesday turned rowdy over the primaries conducted by the All Progressives Congress in Akwa Ibom State.
According to Punch, Senator Bassey Akpan (PDP, Akwa Ibom North-East) had raised a point of order to tell the Senate about how the APC primary allegedly threatened the peace in Akwa Ibom.
Akpan also said the PDP was ready for a peaceful contest in the state.
Former Minority Leader, Senator Godswill Akpabio, also from the state, who recently defected from the Peoples Democratic Party to the APC, raised a point of order apparently to respond to Akpan.
President of the Senate, Bukola Saraki, however, said Akpabio could only speak from the seat allocated to him.
The Majority Leader, Senator Ahmad Lawan, protested, stating that Akpabio could speak from any seat within the chamber.
Other APC senators also raised their voices.
During the disruption that lasted several minutes, Senator Dino Melaye was seen going about, engaging APC senators in a war of words. Senator Kabiru Marafa and some APC senators also rose to engage Melaye.
Efforts by the Deputy President of the Senate, Ike Ekweremadu, to intervene in the matter failed as the chamber became noisy.
Akpabio, who eventually relocated to the seat beside Senator Ali Ndume, demanded an apology from Saraki for allegedly being embarrassed by the Senate President, which the presiding officer denied.
Akpabio and Saraki also had a debate on who allocated the seat to the Akwa Ibom senator.
Akpabio eventually said he would withhold his comment until the chamber had been reconfigured.
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