Tempers rose on Tuesday, with senators from the All Progressives Congress (APC) turning against themselves in fisticuffs over the sharing of the other principal offices in the Senate.
The two senators who engaged themselves in the fight belonged to the different caucuses of the senate had opposing views on the zoning of the vacant seats for principal officers.
The meeting that was called by Senate President, Bukola Saraki to help resolve the leadership crisis and unite the members came to an abrupt end as a result of the fight.
Huhuonline.com learnt that Senator Kabiru Marafa, who is the spokesman of Unity Forum loyal to Senator Lawan, attacked Senator Tayo Alasoadura, a loyalist of Saraki who wanted the senators to go against the decision of their party.
The provocation was caused when Alasoadura, a former Commissioner of Finance in Ondo State expressed his support for Senator Ajayi Borroffice insisting that Boroffice was more qualified to be the Senate Leader than Senator Sola Adeyeye.
Provoked, Marafa punched Alasoadura before their colleagues waded in to douse the tension. But the senators continued with insults and curses, leading the senators to call off the meeting.
The party had sent a list of its candidates for the seat to Saraki after the “political coup” against the APC that produced Saraki and Ike Ekweremadu from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) as the Vice President.
But loyalists of Saraki want the zonal caucuses of the party to each elect their choices for the positions and send the names to Saraki for announcement at the next sitting.
The meeting was supposed to be the first between rival groups each supporting Lawan and Saraki.
Though he did not confirm or deny that there was an exchange of blows, Suleman Nazif told journalists that the party sent names for the positions to be filled but that the ‘Senators of Like Minds’, loyal to Saraki rejected it.
His position was also confirmed by a member of the Senators of Like Minds, Senator Ibrahim Gobir, who insisted that the Senate must be allowed to conduct elections into the seats.
