The Senate chamber, built for measured debate and orderly oversight, last week crackled with defiance, wounded pride and raw political brinkmanship. What began as routine scrutiny of 2026 budget estimates morphed into a spectacle of shouted objections, gavel slams and daring ultimatums that laid bare the fault lines of power. Sunday Aborisade reports.
What should have been a week of sterile fiscal arithmetic inside the Nigerian Senate instead unfolded like a political drama. It is a reminder that in Nigeria, even budget defence sessions are arenas where hierarchy, party loyalties, regional sensitivities and personal pride collide.
As heads of ministries, departments and agencies appeared before lawmakers to defend their 2026 estimates, the committee rooms of the National Assembly became stages for confrontations that revealed as much about the politics of governance as about the numbers themselves.