The national leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the leadership of the Senate and the House of Representatives met on Thursday over the rift between the two chambers on the presentation of next year's budget.
But hope of reconciling the rift dimmed as no concrete agreement was reached at the meeting.
At the meeting were the National Chairman of the PDP, Vincent Ogbulafor and his deputy, Bello Mohammed.
Senate President, David Mark and Speaker, Dimeji Bankole, arrived the PDP secretariat at about 1:30pm at the instance of the National Working Committee and on the orders of the President who was said to have expressed displeasure that in spite the number of PDP members in both houses, it was still difficult to get an easy ride on issues.
Although the meeting was held behind closed doors, it was gathered that the party leadership appealed to the two presiding officers to cooperate with each other.
They were told that the rift would create in the mind of the opposition and even the Presidency that the leadership of the party cannot control its members.
It was, however, learnt that both men refused to shift grounds.
Mr. Mark, as the Senate President and chairman of the National Assembly, said he could choose any venue to hold a joint session, according to a source.
But Mr. Bankole was said to have insisted on sticking to the tradition of holding a joint session at the chambers of the House of Representatives.
Useful deliberations
National Publicity Secretary of the PDP, Rufai Alkali confirmed the meeting was at the instance of the party leadership and "we had very useful deliberations." He refused to state categorically the resolutions reached at the meeting which lasted about 30 minutes.
"They have briefed us and we told them to maintain the tradition which is backed by the constitution. They have now gone back to make consultations. The budget is on course. They are guided by the constitution and there is a tradition which is well known and they will work by the tradition," Mr Alkali told journalists.
Meanwhile, presidential spokesman Olusegun Adeniyi said there was nothing new in the latest muscle flexing by the legislators as there are records of similar experiences in other countries and they were amicably resolved in the interest of the people.
Mr. Adeniyi said this while briefing State House reporters yesterday, adding that the budget will likely be presented next week.
But the Conference of Nigeria Political Parties (CNPP) has described the rift as an ego trip.
The CNPP's spokesman, Osita Okechukwu, said in a press statement issued after the meeting of the group that it was "outraged that the petty ego-trip and infighting between the two chambers is deepening, assuming alarming proportion, embarrassing and antithetical to the growth of democracy and overall development of the country."
Also speaking, Sam Amadi, a lawyer and Director of Programmes and Research, Ken Nnamani Centre for Leadership and Development, said "it underlines the failure of the national assembly as a very important institution of governance to give some degree of dignity to matters of national interest.
"Those who follow the Constitution will not anticipate that someday the issue of venue or superiority would deprive such an important aspect of law making as the presentation of budget. I think things are getting to an all time low."