Abaribe Tackles Lawan Over Armed Forces Bill
BY VICTOR BUORO, ABUJA – Senators on Wednesday got heated up over debate on a Bill seeking to establish the Armed Forces Service Commission.
Sponsor of the Bill, Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe, said the Commission would ensure that the composition and appointment of Service Chiefs of the Armed Forces of the Federation reflect federal character as prescribed in section 217 (3) of the 1999 constitution (as amended).
Senators, who supported the Bill, argued that the bill draws strength from the constitutional provisions, thus urged the Senate to exercise its constitutional rights and powers.
However, some others opposed to the Bill, argued that the establishment of the Commission would most likely politicise the armed forces, a development that woud be dangerous for the peace and unity of the country.
After the debate on the bill, the President of the Senate, Ahmad Lawan put it to voice vote and ruled that the nays had it.
Lawan’s ruling did not go down with Abaribe, who was not convinced having listened to the voice votes which obviously had the ‘yes” in the majority.
Accordingly, Abaribe called for a point of Order citing order 73, which says that any Senator can challenge the ruling of the presiding officer and therefore called for voting on the bill.
But Lawan interjected and said the ruling was not his personal opinion, saying; “It is not my opinion that the nays had it. I didn’t rule inappropriately.”
But Abaribe stood his grounds and insisted that it is his right to call for voting on the Bill, saying; “I’m only saying give me my right and my right is that all our members should get up and vote.”
As the chamber became tensed over the matter, Senator James Manager (PDP, Delta) urged the President of the Senate to allow voting to take place based on the Order cited by Abaribe.
After about seven minutes of waiting and consultaion amongst Senators, the Senate later went into a closed door session.
When the Senate reconvened, Lawan asked Abaribe to withdraw the bill and the Senate Minority Leader obeyed, saying however that he would review it and present it at a more appropriate time.
