A mild drama played out on Wednesday when some senators attended plenary of the House of Representatives, against the tradition of parliamentary proceedings for budget presentation.
This happened before the arrival of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to the parliament for the presentation of the 2024 budget to a joint session of the National Assembly.
Tinubu arrived in the parliament at about 11.10 am in company of retinue of aides, ministers and some governors.
Senators’ ignorance
Laid down tradition and parliamentary procedures require senators to hold a brief plenary session in the Senate chamber and then proceed in group to the chamber of the House of Representatives for the joint session and not go there individually.
But some senators ahead of the joint session went to the House of Representatives chamber out of ignorance which baffled rep members in session.
Apparently realising their mistakes, the Senators who committed the legislative errors like Aliyu Wammako ( APC Sokoto North) and Monday Okphebolo (APC Edo Central) quickly ran out of the chamber to join their colleagues in the Senate chamber.
However, as at the time Wammakko and Okphebolo were hurrying back to the Red Chamber, their colleagues from the Senate had suspended their plenary for the joint session.
Mistakes made by the duo arose from lack of deep knowledge and understanding of legislative practices and procedures for such joint sitting, a result of high turnover of lawmakers always recorded every four years.