After being handed a lesson or two in politicking on Tuesday, the 28 APC lawmakers who were absent when the 8th Senate was inaugurated, dusted themselves up and stormed the National Assembly complex as early as they could muster on Wednesday.
Recall that this group of Senators were still huddled in the ICC center (waiting for a meeting that never held) the previous day when the Clerk of the Assembly, Alhaji Salisu Maikasuwa, proclaimed the 8th Senate open and subsequently conducted the election that threw up Bukola Saraki as Senate President.
After his victory, Saraki’s first task was to administer the oath of office and allegiance to the 75 Senators who were in the Chamber when he was crowned.
After the votes and proceedings of the previous legislative day were adopted on Wednesday, the APC Senators who missed out on Saraki’s moment in the sun, took turns to take their oaths and allegiance of office. They read those aloud and appended their signatures where required.
Protocol requires each of the newly sworn-in senators to present a copy of their certificate to the Senate President and in turn, shake hands with him. Like, really pump fists with him.
That last requirement was too much for Oluremi Tinubu–wife of APC leader Bola Ahmed Tinubu–to implement and she made that obvious.
While the rest of the inaugurated Senators followed the protocol to the letter, Senator Oluremi Tinubu (Lagos Central ), merely displayed her certificate to new Senate President Bukola Saraki, refused to shake hands with him and walked out on him with some swagger as well, as the cameras rolled and clicked.