Soon after they arrived, Messrs Akpabi and Bamidele went into the chamber where the senators are still holding a closed-door session.

Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, has arrived at the National Assembly from the Presidential Villa where he had gone on consultations over the screening of Festus Keyamo, a ministerial nominee from Delta State.

Mr Akpabio arrived at exactly 4.40 p.m. accompanied by the Senate Leader, Opeyemi Bamidele.

The senate president was presiding over a closed-door session of the Senate when he left for the villa midway into the meeting.

It is not clear whether he was summoned by President Bola Tinubu or he was mandated by the senators to go to the villa.

Soon after they arrived, Messrs Akpabio and Bamidele went into the chamber where the senators are still holding a closed-door session

Meanwhile, Mr Keyamo was spotted around the entrance of the chamber with the Senior Special Assistant to the President on National Assembly Matters (Senate), Abdullahi Gumel.

PREMIUM TIMES reported that a rowdy session erupted in the Senate chamber following a point of order raised by Darlington Nwokocha (LP, Abia), complaining that the nominee had in 2020 ignored the summons of the National Assembly over the implementation of the Special Public Works Programme of the federal government.

The motion was seconded by Enyinnaya Abaribe (APGA, Abia Central).

This newspaper reported the clash between Mr Keyamo and the lawmakers at a meeting he had with the joint committee of the National Assembly on employment and labour. The meeting was aimed at discussing the progress of the planned employment of 774,000 Nigerians by the federal government.

The National Assembly had in the 2020 budget appropriated N52 billion for the special public works programme aimed at employing 774,000 citizens, a thousand from each of the 774 local government areas in the country.