A motion to honor the late Prof. Humphrey Nwosu was the subject of a heated debate in the Senate on Wednesday, which caused tense exchanges among the members before being ultimately rejected.
Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe raised the motion, which was co-sponsored by members of the minority caucus, primarily from the South-East, under the theme of “urgent need to immortalize Professor Humphrey Nwosu’s contributions and brave defense of the democratic electoral process during the 1993 presidential elections.
Senator Opeyemi Bamidele, the leader of the Senate, raised a motion of order just as Senator Abaribe began to present the motion, alleging that lawmakers had not received copies of the motion, a procedural blunder, but Senator Abaribe disputed that the documents were available. The chamber became agitated as a result of the disagreement.
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Senator Barau Jibrin, the session’s deputy president, noted that the motion was contentious and that the public had differed regarding Prof. Nwosu’s involvement in the presidential election that was postponed on June 12, 1993.
He claims that it’s “controversial.” Some view him as one of the six people who cut June 12, and others call him a “hero of democracy”
The “nays” had the day when the motion was ultimately put to a voice vote, effectively rejecting the idea.
The Senate Leader, who explained that the time has passed for that, furthering the escalating tensions, rejected Senator Abaribe’s attempts to reintroduce the motion under various procedural orders.
A clearly irritable Abaribe questioned the merits of an honoring Nwosu motion. What’s wrong with this motion, he asked? Why would Prof. Nwosu be immortalized?
Senators Yahaya Abdullahi and Senator Abaribe both warned against creating a “dangerous precedent” that would prevent lawmakers from bringing up important issues.
“We must allow speakers to speak.” If we don’t, he said, “We are saying that whenever things go wrong, we can’t fix them,” he said.
However, the deputy senator president responded by pointing out differences in Abaribe’s procedural language, saying, “You approached me to bring the motion under Order 50 and 51, but you later changed it to Order 42. Senator Abaribe is advised to resubmit his motion on the upcoming legislative date by saying, “This is a process.”
Senators from the South-East who were criticized for the motion’s rejection publicly, including Senators Victor Umeh and Patrick Ndubaeze. He raged, “What is the meaning of this?” and asked, “What is the meaning of this?” This is not how we can continue to operate. How are things going? ‘.
