Opeyemi Bamidele, Leader of the Senate, has dismissed claims of an altercation between himself and the President of the Senate, Godswill Akpabio, as unfounded.
Jackson Ude shared on his X handle that Senator Bamidele allegedly raised his voice at Akpabio, accusing him of marginalizing lawmakers from the South by assigning lucrative committee positions to his associates in the North.
In response, an unsigned statement from the Media Office of the Senate Leader labeled Ude as a known serial blackmailer and a “cash-and-carry” journalist. The statement addressed the alleged incident, asserting that there was no physical fight between Senator Opeyemi Bamidele and Senator Godswill Akpabio on Wednesday.
“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; 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 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 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.”
