A Bill seeking to establish an Armed Forces Service Commission caused chaos during the Senate plenary on Wednesday.
The Bill titled: “A Bill for an Act to give effect to Section 219 of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria to provide for the establishment of the Armed Forces Service Commission and for other related matters, 2021” was sponsored by Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe.
The uproar grew when the Bill was called up for second reading.
Senators of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) supported the Bill, arguing that it was merely to give effect to a constitutional provision which empowers the National Assembly to create the Armed Forces Service Commission; while the All Progressives Congress (APC) Senators in their contribution said that the Bill was targeted at crippling the powers of the President.
The PDP Senators who supported the Bill are Emmanuel Bawacha, Chukwuka Utazi and James Manager, while the APC Senators who opposed the Bill include; Deputy Senate President, Ovie Omo-Agege, Abdullahi Adamu, Adamu Aliero and Mohammed Bulkachuwa.
There was confusion when the Senate President, Ahmad Lawan, put the Bill to a voice vote and ruled that the “nays” won, meaning that the Bill cannot be read for a second time.
However, the sponsor of the Bill, Abaribe, and those in support disagreed with the ruling of the Senate President and called for a division of the Senate to allow for a more transparent voting.
Some lawmakers interpreted the disagreement as a challenge the ruling of the Senate President on the matter.
The near chaos caused the Senate President to announce an emergency closed door session.
