What was meant to be a routine 2026 budget defence by the Ministry of Works on Wednesday degenerated into a spectacle of ego, political chest-thumping and open hostility in a Senate Committe room, culminating in a walkout that left stunned observers questioning the dignity of the upper chamber.
The session, chaired by Senator Hanga, Vice Chairman of the Senate Committee on Works, in place of the absent substantive Chairman, Senator Mpigi Barinada (Rivers South East), began on a deceptively cordial note. Minister of Works, Senator David Umahi, delivered his presentation with confidence, outlining trillions in proposed expenditures while lawmakers nodded and scribbled notes.
But beneath the smiles, tensions simmered.
The match-light came when Deputy Senate Whip, Senator Peter Nwaebonyi (APC, Ebonyi), took the floor. What was ostensibly a contribution quickly morphed into what several committee members later described as an unrestrained eulogy of Minister Umahi – widely regarded as Nwaebonyi’s political godfather, having allegedly facilitated his coming to the Senate.
Rather than interrogate figures or demand accountability, Nwaebonyi urged colleagues to applaud both Umahi and President Bola Tinubu for what he called sterling performance in the road sector.
The atmosphere shifted when Hanga, who was presiding, politely asked Nwaebonyi to round off his remarks.
That request detonated the room.
Senators clash during Ministry of Works budget defence pic.twitter.com/dW1llZVBZA
— Africa Independent Television (@AIT_Online) February 11, 2026
“You cannot stop me from speaking after allowing Senato Adams Oshiomhole to talk for 15 solid minutes!” Nwaebonyi shouted across the room, accusing the chair of bias.
“Please don’t interrupt me… I’ve barely spent about five minutes and you are telling me to round off. I won’t. And for your information, as a ranking presiding officer, I can take over proceedings of this session from you.”
Gasps rippled through the room.
“I’m a Ranking Senator of the Ruling Party!”
Hanga, visibly angered, slammed the gavel and reminded Nwaebonyi that he possessed no such authority. The rebuke only poured fuel on the fire.
“I’m a ranking Senator of the ruling party that cannot be ruled against by a minority senator!” Nwaebonyi shot back, elevating the dispute from procedural disagreement to a raw display of partisan entitlement.
In an equally cutting retort, Hanga informed his colleague that the votes that sent him to the Senate in June 2023 were “ten times higher” than those Nwaebonyi received in Ebonyi North – a sharp descent into competitive vote-counting unbefitting of a national legislative forum.
What should have been a technical review of a multi-trillion-naira budget had devolved into a public contest of ego and electoral arithmetic.
A plea by Umahi, himself a former Senator, to get the session into an executive one, by shutting out the media, which operatives were furiously scribbling away and recording, was turned down by lawmakers. The free-for-all verbal shouting march continued.
Attempts by Senator Ali Ndume (APC, Borno South) to calm frayed nerves were brusquely dismissed. Nwaebonyi, still fuming, shouted at colleagues and stormed out of the venue in full view of stunned lawmakers, aides, and other guests.
The dramatic exit marked the low point of a hearing meant to scrutinize how N3.245 trillion in capital expenditure would be deployed.
Order was eventually restored after interventions from Ndume and Senator Adamu Aliero (Kebbi Central), among others, but the damage — both reputational and procedural — had already been done.
Lost in the shouting match were weighty fiscal commitments.
Earlier, Minister Umahi had boldly challenged lawmakers to conduct an on-the-spot assessment of the controversial Abuja–Kaduna–Zaria–Kano road project, declaring he would resign if it failed to meet standards.
He disclosed that of the N3.245 trillion capital allocation proposed for the ministry in 2026, N760 billion is earmarked for new projects across the six geo-political zones, distinct from four ongoing “legacy” projects and the Akwanga–Jos–Bauchi–Gombe–Maiduguri corridor.
Umahi further revealed that N7 trillion would be required to complete road projects previously withdrawn from by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL), with funding to be sourced from domestic market bonds.
Yet as figures in the trillions hung in the balance, senators traded accusations over speaking time and party hierarchy.
For many observers, the most disturbing moment was not the shouting itself, but the assertion that party affiliation should shield a senator from being “ruled against” by a colleague from a minority party — a statement that strikes at the heart of parliamentary procedure and democratic equality.
By the time calm returned, the hearing had resumed, but the earlier spectacle lingered — a sobering reminder that while the sums discussed may be astronomical, decorum in the nation’s highest legislative chamber can be alarmingly fragile.
