Natasha Akpoti Walks Out of Senate Committee Session After Clash With Chair During Steel Budget Defence

A budget defence session of the Ministry of Steel Development at the Senate on Wednesday ended in tension after a heated exchange between Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan (PDP, Kogi Central) and Senator Patrick Ndubueze, chairman of the Senate committee on the ministry.

The confrontation occurred after almost four hours of deliberations with the Minister of Steel Development, Prince Shuaibu Audu, and his team.

Trouble began when Ndubueze moved to bring the interactive session to a close, arguing that Akpoti-Uduaghan had already spoken at length and that proceedings needed to end.

As the chairman raised his gavel to adjourn the meeting, the Kogi Central senator objected, insisting she still had important issues to raise.

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“No, please do not interrupt. I still have something to say, and I think you should respect me enough. Please don’t do that,” she said.

Ndubueze ignored the protest and struck the gavel, responding: “No, you have spoken enough, and I have respected you enough.”

Akpoti-Uduaghan briefly replied, “Mr Chairman, thank you. Then that’s fine,” before raising her voice and accusing the committee leadership of silencing her.

“I think you have disrespected me more than enough. No, no, no. You can’t do this to me. You can’t. You have spoken enough, allow me to speak. I have something very vital to interface with the minister.

“And it doesn’t matter if I’ve spoken once or twice. This is an interactive session. And you agree that we have not met with the minister enough. Only God knows when next we are going to meet with him as a committee.”

She also stressed the importance of further engagement, saying, “It’s very important. I still have something to say, and I think you should respect me enough,” and added, “This is an interactive session and I have something vital to interface with the Minister.”

With the disagreement unresolved, Akpoti-Uduaghan rose from her seat and walked out of the hearing room, temporarily disrupting the proceedings.