President of the Nigerian Senate, David Mark, has been commended for his maturity in handling the physical assault on him by some members of the Federal House of Representatives.

The assault is said to have taken place last Thursday during the fracas that engulfed the federal parliament when police locked the gates to the House of Representatives, preventing lawmakers from entering the premises of the House. Some angry lawmakers vented their frustration and anger on the Senate President (whom they suspected was privy to the police action) when he intervened in the standoff between the representatives and the police.

In a resumed sitting of senators yesterday at the National Assembly, Abuja, Senator Zainab Abdulkadir Kure (PDP) regretted that some of those who assaulted Mark were from her home state, Niger.

“If you look at the clip of what happened on that 20th of November, some of the people who assaulted our own Senate President happened to come from my senatorial district (of Niger State,” Kure said.

Addressing the Senate president (who is also the chairman of the National Assembly) during Wednesday’s plenary session, Kure described the attack on him as “highly reviled by all (Niger people).”

Continuing, Kure said lessons have been learnt of Mark’s “humility and steadfastness” in taking the assault on the chin.

Kure told Mark: “If not for your humility, those people (who assaulted you) would have been behind bars).”

Kure thanked the Senate President for being magnanimous and being a leader, while urging him to allow the committee set up by the senate to investigate the ugly events to do a thorough job and not let his “forgiving heart” to make the committee to possibly slow down.

•Photo shows Senator Zainab Kure.

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