AfriqueCAN
A motion seeking to immortalise the late Prof. Humphrey Nwosu on Wednesday sparked intense controversy in the Senate, leading to a tense exchange among lawmakers before ultimately being rejected.
The motion, raised under matters of urgent public importance by Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe and co-sponsored by members of the minority caucus primarily from the South-East titled ‘urgent need to immortalise Professor Humphrey Nwosu’, aimed to recognise Professor’s Nwosu’s contributions and courageous defense of the democratic electoral process during the 1993 presidential elections.
However, just as Senator Abaribe began to present the motion, the Senate Leader, Senator Opeyemi Bamidele, raised a point of order, arguing that lawmakers had not been provided with copies of the motion, a procedural issue he claimed was a breach of Senate rules, but Senator Abaribe countered that the documents were available. The disagreement quickly created a charged atmosphere in the chamber.
Deputy Senate President, Senator Barau Jibrin, who was presiding over the session, noted that the motion was a contentious one, citing divided public opinion on Prof. Nwosu’s role in the annulled June 12, 1993, presidential election.
According to him, “It’s controversial. Some see him as one of those who truncated June 12, others say he was a hero of democracy”.
When the motion was eventually put to a voice vote, the ‘nays’ had the day, effectively rejecting the proposal.
Efforts by Senator Abaribe to reintroduce the motion under different procedural orders were declined by the Senate Leader, who explained that the time for that has passed, further escalating tensions.
A visibly frustrated Abaribe protested, questioning why a motion to honor Nwosu was deemed problematic. He exclaimed, “What is wrong with this motion? What is wrong with immortalizing Prof. Nwosu?”
Senator Yahaya Abdullahi, who sided with Senator Abaribe, cautioned against setting a “dangerous precedent” that could suppress lawmakers from raising critical issues.
“We must allow people to speak. If we don’t, we are saying that whenever things go wrong, we cannot intervene to correct them,” he said.
The Deputy Senate President, however, responded by pointing out inconsistencies in Abaribe’s procedural approach, stating, “You approached me to bring the motion under Order 50 and 51, but you later changed it to Order 42. This is a process”, advising Senator Abaribe to resubmit his motion on the next legislative date.
South-East Senators, including Senator Patrick Ndubaeze and Senator Victor Umeh openly expressed their displeasure over the rejection of the motion. Hitting the table, he raged, “What is the meaning of this? We can’t continue to do things this way. What is going on?’.
Meanwhile Sen Abaribe, in protest, walked out of the chamber.
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