Former Edo State Deputy Governor Philip Shaibu have said that Senators Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan and Godswill Akpabio’s spat over seat arrangements should not boil down to a gender issue.
The former federal politician remarked that offices and seats in the National Assembly are privileges that should be lobbied for.
Shaibu, who spoke to the media on Wednesday, said seats and offices of federal lawmakers are privileges and not rights.
The former deputy governor once occupied the Etsako Federal constituency House of Representatives seat in the National Assembly from June 2015 to March 2016. Before then, he spent eight years at the Edo State House of Assembly as a lawmaker.
Shaibu said, “Interestingly, Natasha is my friend. Senator Akpabio, the president of the Senate, is my political leader.
“There are rules guiding the House. When I was in the National Assembly, it was the prerogative of the leadership of the House to allocate office and to allocate seats, and in the House, there is what is called lobbying; you lobby for everything.”
He said, “For you to have a good office when you come in, maybe because of my experience as a two-term member of Edo State House of Assembly, when I came to Abuja from day 1, I went quickly to lobby to check the kind of offices that they have areas and locations.
“I was able to lobby to have my office close to where I wanted it; I was able to hurriedly lobby for where I wanted to sit. Whereas some people who are coming for the first time did not know that you lobby for things like that.
“There are rules; the rules of the House if clear, and you must be guided by them. it doesn’t mean whether you are a man or a woman. The rules are meant for the House.”
