On Thursday, some members of the 10th Senate accused Godswill Akpabio, the Senate President, of hastily passing certain bills without properly informing them.
During a session, Ali Ndume, the senator representing Borno South Senatorial District, accused Akpabio of passing laws within two hours, and without allowing the senators present at the session to make contributions.
“You are just passing bills without prior notification, even money bills, you just pass without anyone’s contribution and within two hours. This is not good for Nigeria, and history will judge you,” Ndume said.
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The senators further complained of being ambushed by Akpabio whenever very sensitive bills were brought before the Senate.
“Sir, you are on the seat today; history is going to judge you that things like this are not good for this country,” said Ogoshi Onawo, the senator representing Nasarawa South Senatorial District.
Akpabio, however, is not the first Nigerian Senate President to hastily pass several bills within a short timeframe.
In June 2015, David Mark, president of the seventh Senate, hastily passed 46 bills in 10 minutes.
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In a move many Nigerians later described as a reckless path to law-making, Mark ensured all known protocols were set aside to get the bills passed into law.
Ayuba Wabba, the then president of the Nigeria Labour Congress NLC), expressed shock and disappointment at the action, saying the passage of the 46 bills without proper legislation was “competing for the Guinness Book of Records for legislative infamy”.
Prior to Mark’s passing of the 46 bills, the Senate under his watch had been accused of spending over N600 billion in four years in passing only about 106 bills.
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