Reported by: Ijeoma G | Edited by: Oravbiere Osayomore Promise.
ABUJA, Nigeria – A fire outbreak in the Senate wing of the National Assembly on Wednesday, June 10, 2026, sent senators, aides, and journalists scrambling for safety, briefly disrupting legislative activities and sparking a chaotic scene in the nation’s capital. The blaze occurred at approximately midday in Hearing Room 107 of the White House section of the complex, moments after the Senate Committee on the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) had concluded the screening of a nominee for the agency’s governing board.
Sources said the fire began in the kitchenette area attached to the hearing room, quickly generating thick smoke that engulfed the chamber and triggered a dash for exits. Lawmakers and staff, some coughing and covering their noses, rushed through corridors and stairwells as fire alarms sounded. A video clip of the incident showed National Assembly personnel deploying fire extinguishers in an effort to contain the flames before the arrival of emergency responders.
Two senators were credited with playing a decisive role in extinguishing the blaze. According to multiple reports, Senator Asuquo Ekpenyong (APC, Cross River South), who chairs the NDDC committee, and Senator Salihu Mustapha (APC, Kwara Central) led immediate efforts to douse the flames in the kitchenette, preventing the fire from spreading to other sections of the hearing room and possibly the wider Senate wing. Preliminary findings indicated that the fire may have been triggered by a microwave oven that had been left switched on, though formal investigations continue.
No injuries or casualties were reported, and the fire was brought under control before it could cause extensive damage to the facility. Proceedings were briefly halted, but normal legislative activities resumed shortly after the incident was contained. The swift intervention of the two senators and the security team was widely commended for averting what could have become a much more serious disaster.
Attempt To Cover Up Incident
In the aftermath, controversy trailed the fire scare when journalists covering the National Assembly were reportedly directed by committee officials to delete photographs and video recordings taken during the outbreak. Witnesses said the instruction, delivered verbally by officials in the hearing room, was met with resistance from some members of the press who questioned the motive behind the order. While no official explanation was provided, concerns were raised that the cover‑up attempt could be seen as part of a broader pattern of restricting media coverage of unflattering incidents within the legislative complex.
The fire scare comes less than 24 hours after the Senate passed the first reading of the 2026 budget amendment bill and just days before lawmakers were scheduled to vote on a constitutional amendment bill seeking to establish state police. Despite the interruption, Senate President Godswill Akpabio later announced that the chamber’s plenary and committee schedules would proceed as planned for the remainder of the week.
The fire incident also highlighted persistent safety concerns within the ageing National Assembly complex, which has experienced periodic electrical faults and fire scares in recent years. In August 2022, a fire gutted a section of the new wing of the assembly, destroying documents and office equipment. In a separate incident earlier in 2026, fire razed a section of Terminal 1 at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos, prompting the National Assembly to hold a closed-door meeting with aviation authorities. While the cause of the latest incident has been provisionally traced to a kitchen appliance, the assembly’s management has been urged by safety experts to conduct a comprehensive audit of electrical systems and emergency protocols across the complex.
For now, no casualty has been reported, and the Senate wing of the National Assembly remains operational. The day’s business, which had already entered committee work, was not significantly impacted. But for the senators and staff who found themselves fleeing a smoke‑filled chamber, the brief fire scare served as an unexpected disruption to a routine legislative day.
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