By Kingsley Okoye
Abuja, July 27,2022
Senators of the opposition parties on Wednesday at plenary staged a walkout, following the ruling out of order of a point of order raised by Minority Leader Philip Aduda (PDP-FCT) to discuss insecurity in Nigeria
Aduda had raised a point of order to draw the attention of the President of Senate, Ahmad Lawan, to the necessity to bring to the public discussion of issues of insecurity, at a closed session that lasted two hours.
Lawan, however, interjected, saying that it was against the Senate’s rule to bring up any such matters without his prior consultation.
Lawan, thereafter, ruled the Minority Leader out of order.
Thereafter, Senators of the opposition parties staged a walkout chanting a solidarity songs.
Aduda, at a news conference in accompany of other opposition lawmakers, said: “we went through a closed session to discuss issues as it relates to security in this country especially the happenings in Abuja and happenings all over the country.
“We agree that the primary responsibility of government is the protection of lives and property of citizens.
“And for us, the minority caucus in the Senate, we took into cognisance the fact that the Senate had at various levels, at various times, convened various security meetings. Issues were discussed.
“We did recommend to government various steps and measures aimed at curbing these issues on insecurity.
“We realise that even Abuja that we are in is no longer safe.
“At the closed session, we agreed that we will give the president an ultimatum to comply.
“This is what we agreed on at the closed session. So, when we came out of the closed-door session, we expected that the Senate President will brief the public on the issue that happened.
“However, that did not happen, so we have come here in protest to brief you and to let you know that we are with Nigerians in this struggle.
“And that we are worried that nowhere is safe in Nigeria and as such, we have worked out of the chamber in protest that the security situation is deteriorating and that urgent steps need to be completely taken to ensure that these issues are curbed immediately.”
