By Nathaniel Zacchaeus, Abuja
The Directorate of Media and Public Affairs in the Office of the Senate Leader, Senator Opeyemi Bamidele, has denied an alleged altercation between him and the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio.
The statement was in reaction to a post by a social media personality, Jackson Ude, who alleged that there was an altercation and physical fight between Bamidele and Akpabio on Wednesday.
The Senate Leader’s Media team said, “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 the ethos of Journalism into the 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, a heating up of 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 a 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 exact vehicle yesterday.
“This time again, the Senate Leader is warning all attention seekers in the ilk of Ude to be careful and not take the Leader’s gentlemanliness for granted. Henceforth, the Leader of the Senate 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.”
*Senate pledges to participate in Wayas’ burial
Meanwhile, Akpabio has assured that the Senate will participate fully in the burial of former Senate President Dr Joseph Wayas.
He gave the assurance when a delegation of leaders from Cross River State, led by former Justice Minister Chief Kanu Agabi, paid him a courtesy visit to invite the Senate to the burial formally.
Akpabio told his guests that the Senate would be “part and parcel of all the ceremonies,” describing it as “a celebration of life.”
The Senate President said, “We will be delighted, as the 10th Senate, to be part of it. We have planned to be part of it. We plan to hold a valedictory session for him on November 28, 2024; after that, we will follow you to Calabar for the night of tributes.
“We will want to take part fully in the ceremonies. Your coming is almost like an icing on the cake. It’s like showing respect to the institution of the National Assembly. We don’t take that for granted.
“Even if you did not come, we would still have come to you, but your coming has further impetus because when you are invited to a function, your legs are strengthened.
“We are going to do everything possible to collaborate and work with you to own this event,” Akpabio said.
He described Wayas, the first Senate President of Nigeria’s South-South extraction, as a trailblazer, a man of style and candor, and a charismatic Senator.
Agabi, who led the delegation, appealed to the Federal Government to take over Wayas’s burial earlier.
He said, “Let the government bury Joseph Wayas. The state government has been struggling with it. Let the Federal Government step in. That is why we are here.”
The former Attorney-General of the Federation said because of the delay in burying Joseph Wayas, who died on November 30, 2021, it looked to some people as if he had been killed several times.
Agabi said those who are familiar with history would know how long it took great men like Jamaican artist Marcus Garvey, former President of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Mobutu Sese Seko, and even Joseph in the bible to be buried.
