Senate Leader, Opeyemi Bamidele has denied allegations of a physical fight with Senate President Godswill Akpabio.
Investigative journalist, Jackson Ude had alleged that Bamidele and Akpabio had a big fight at the Senate cafeteria on Tuesday.
Bamidele had accused Akpabio of favouring northern lawmakers with key committee appointments while ignoring Southern lawmakers.
According to Jackson, it took the intervention of Senator Sani Bello of Niger State to stop what would have become a blood bath as both senators allegedly held themselves by the neck while exchanging blows.
However Bamidele through his media team dismissed the accusations as baseless and described Ude’s actions as an attempt to spread falsehoods.
He pointed out that his political career, spanning over two decades, has been free of any history of physical confrontation, even during his tenure as a student leader.
The Senator revealed that such reports are aimed at creating division within the Senate and unsettling the political landscape.
He disclosed that, contrary to the rumors, he and Akpabio had a cordial engagement with the Chinese Ambassador and his delegation shortly after the alleged incident.
Bamidele also warned against further attempts to tarnish his reputation, signaling readiness to pursue legal actions under the CyberCrime Act if necessary.
He assured the public that the 10th Senate remains a united and focused body, urging Nigerians to disregard the misleading reports.
The statement read: “For the record, it is a verifiable fact that Senator Bamidele has never been involved in physical assault in over two decades of his political trajectory, not even when he was a young man leading the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) as President.
“It is surprising that the purveyor of this misleading information in his selfish agenda and unprofessional conduct threw ethos of Journalism into waste bin and decided to feast on roadside gists to tarnish the image of the Senate Leader.
“We are aware that the fake news is meant to cause disaffection within the Senate and by extension; heating up the political system.
“To think that the Senate Leader, President of the Senate and other principal officers of the Senate together received the Chinese Ambassador to Nigeria, Mr. YU Dunhai and his delegation few minutes after leaving the plenary on Wednesday is a significant testimony against Ude’s imagination.
“Further to this, photographs of the Chinese envoys with the leadership of the Senate were widely published in today’s major national newspapers. It is equally verifiable that the Senate Leader and the Senate President both drove out of the National Assembly premises in the same vehicle yesterday.
“This time again, the Senate Leader is sounding a note of warning to all attention seekers in the ilk of Ude to be careful and not take the Leader’s gentlemanliness for granted.
“Henceforth, the Leader will be forced to use the instrumentality of the law to protect himself and his office as enshrined in the CyberCrime Act 2015. We, therefore, urge the public to disregard this misinformation and treat it with the disrespect it deserves.
“Nigeria’s disruptive fifth columnists have been failing. This is another remarkable failure. The 10th Senate is a uniquely united assembly of noble and patriotic Nigerians, hence no subterfuge can alter the bond.”
