Senator And House of Representative Member Fight Each Other Over PDP National Convention At Former Governor Akpabio's House

As the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), National Convention draws closer, members of the National Assembly caucus of the party on Thursday night had a major disagreement at the house former Governor of Akwa Ibom State and current Minority Leader in the Senate, Chief Godswill Akpabio, which extended to an exchange of punches, over the choice of the next national chairman of the party.

Akpabio, had convened a session at his residence in Asokoro District, Abuja, on how to keep the party united ahead of the convention and also to stand as a platform on which the National Assembly Caucus will be able to interact with all the aspirants of the party.

A top source, who was at the meeting, said: “The Senate Minority Leader convened the session in his house to enable us interact with all the aspirants on their programmes and form our opinion on who to vote for.

“We were barely settling down for the session when some members of the House of Representatives raised issues concerning some aspirants for the office of the National Chairman and others disagreed.

“The development led to shouting match and fisticuffs among some Senators and members of the House of Representatives.

“The rowdy session was witnessed by the Deputy President of the Senate, Chief Ike Ekweremadu, and some of the aspirants in attendance, including a leading candidate, Prince Uche Secondus.”

Another source at the meeting said: “The meeting ended abruptly when some lawmakers started exchanging blows over who should lead the party.

“I think the clash was a carry-over of some political misunderstanding among some members of the National Assembly in some states over the choice of chairman for PDP. But we all bore the brunt of the fisticuffs.”

A member of the House of Representatives, who was hit at the session, said: “I think some of our colleagues at the session were just being overzealous by taking sides. They misread the intent of what we were to do.

“The assumption was that the session was meant to adopt a candidate for the Office of National Chairman of PDP.”

When contacted, Akpabio’s spokesman, Mr. Jackson Udom, said: “Why can’t you get in touch with the Senate Minority Leader himself? I do not speak on party matters.”