Politics
Sponsored by Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe (Abia South), the Senate became rancorous on Wednesday, March 17, when the debate for the second reading of the bill began.
Both senators from the All Progressives Congress, APC, and Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, vociferous made their arguments for or against the bill.
Those on the side of the APC contend that the bill was to whittle down the powers of the president as the commander-in-chief of the armed forces. They include Senators Ovie Omo-Agege, deputy senate president, Abdullahi Adamu, Adamu Aliero, and Mohammed Bulkachuwa.
On the side of PDP, Senators Emmanuel Bwacha, Chukwuka Utazi, and James Manager supported the bill because of the constitutional provision which empowers the National Assembly to create the Armed Forces Service Commission.
The matter was somewhat settled with more agitation when Senate President Ahmad Lawan put the bill to a voice vote and ruled that the “nays” had the day that it cannot be read for a second time.
However, Abaribe, and others who supported the bill, rejected the ruling of the Senate president, calling for transparent voting, a move APC senators saw as a challenge to the ruling of Lawan.
Before the situation could degenerate, the Senate president quickly announced that the chamber will go into an emergency closed door session.
Mar. 17, 2021 @ 15:44 GMT
Tags: Senators fight over armed forces service commission bill
