There was a mild drama in the Senate yesterday when Senator Seriake Dickson (PDP, Bayelsa West) tackled his colleague representing Adamawa Central, Senator Aishatu Ahmed Binani, over the latter’s comment on the size and population of Bayelsa State.

Binani had during her lead debate on a Bill for an Act to provide the legal framework to establish the Federal Medical Centre Mubi in Adamawa State, said Mubi town, with total landmass of 506.4km2, and a population of 759,045 people, borders nine local government areas in the state.

“This together with the population of Mubi North makes it 2,089,540 people (very much higher than Bayelsa State’s eight local government areas, with a population of 1,704,515).

Nonetheless, this historic town has suffered from government neglect in terms of federal presence especially in the area of tertiary healthcare delivery,” Binani said.

But her line of arguments did not go down well with Senator Dickson, who is the immediate past governor of Bayelsa State.

He faulted Binani’s claim on Bayelsa population, arguing that the size of Bayelsa, the physical landmass and the water bodies, is three times bigger than some states in the country.