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Nigerian Senate through its President, David Mark on Wednesday reprimanded the outspoken leader for his comments while referring to him as a 'madman.'

Gaddafi was addressing visiting students from multiple African universities in Libyan capital, Tripoli when he made the comment.

Sources at Nigerian Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed the recall was with immediate effect adding that Nigeria was formally protesting against the insensitive comments credited to the former Chairman of the African Union.

"The recall however does not affect the diplomatic ties between both nations," the source added.

In a related development, the House of Representatives today passed a resolution condemning Gaddafi for his comments and urged the central government to break ties with the OPEC member country.

The House summoned the Libyan Ambassador to Nigeria to appear before it to explain Gaddafi’s comments to legislators.

The resolution was moved by House Committee Chairman on the Air Force, Hon. Halims Agoda.

"Gadaffi’s statement is very inciting, we must condemn the man so that we can move forward as a nation.

"Our founding fathers worked very hard to bring us to where we are today, our differences have been our strength," Agoda said.

In a related incident :

Mark described the Libyan dictator as "a mad man" who did not deserve any form of publicity for his utterances.

He said this when Senator Ayim Ude drew the attention of the Senate to Gaddafi's comments published in the media.

Ude had while contributing to a debate on the bomb blast which disrupted the post-amnesty dialogue in Warri, Delta State, on Wednesday, stressed the need for the Senate to caution individuals from making inflammatory comments.

Responding, Mark said, Udeh, with all due respect, why do you want to give a mad man that level of publicity? But I'm surprised that you are giving that any publicity at all.

"A mad man who said the same thing about Switzerland, he said the same thing about England, he said the same thing about every other country. And then you want to give that any other prominence at all.

"I don't think he deserves any mention at all. Truly, in my candid opinion, I don't think he even deserves our attention."

Other senators who spoke on the issue after the days' sitting also condemned the Libyan leader for speaking on Nigeria, a country they said he knew nothing about.

Commenting on the issue, Senator Abubakar Sodangi (PDP Nasarawa), called on Nigerians to discountenance the Libyan leader's comments because he lacked knowledge about Nigeria.

Senator Smart Adeyemi (PDP Kogi) said the fact that Nigeria and Nigerians had survived a civil war and various ethno-religious crises was "a clear message to all our enemies that we as a people are sworn to a common destiny."

According to him, "Gaddafi must realise that Nigeria is not Libya and (he) must therefore understand that he is not in a position to dictate to us how we live as a people.

"Nigerians are not religious bigots, even in the midst of poverty. We may have crisis now but certainly, we shall overcome the problems like we did in the past."

Gaddafi was quoted as having called for the division of Nigeria along religious lines. He had argued that such a split would end the religious crisis that has led to the loss of hundreds of lives in Africa's most populous country over the past 10 years.