The sergeant-at-arms of the national assembly (NASS) on Tuesday prevented reporters from covering Senate plenary.
Sergeant-at-arms are responsible for maintaining order on the instruction of the leaders of the national assembly during sittings; keeping the mace and carrying it to the chamber at the commencement of legislative business.
TheCable reports that ‘no reason was given’. However, a sergeant-at-arms barricaded the door leading to the gallery, from where the public and journalists observe proceedings.
A monitor on the NASS’s press centre and online streaming platforms, as well as a Twitter feed for live updates of the upper legislative chamber, were also not working.
The last update on Senate’s Twitter feed was on June 14.
The public is only shut out of parliamentary proceedings during an “executive session” which is usually announced a few minutes before the senators go behind closed doors.
The upper legislative chamber is resuming from a two-week break after the 10th session was inaugurated in June.
Apart from appointing its principal officers, the Senate is gearing up to receive a request from President Bola Tinubu to screen and confirm his ministerial nominees.
