There was a mild drama in the Senate on Tuesday following the statement by Senator Smart Adeyemi (APC, Kogi) that Abia State is governed by “drunkards.”
Adeyemi, while contributing to a motion on Safe School Initiative in Nigeria, described Abia State Governor Okezie Victor Ikpeazu as a “champagne drinking man”.
The lawmaker was apparently responding to a social media post linked to Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe, who is from Abia State, allegedly casting aspersions on the person of Kogi State Governor Yahaya Bello.
However, Abaribe said he was surprised that the Kogi senator was referring to a statement he never made.
Adeyemi said while some governors were committed to the welfare and protection of their people, Abians “are governed by drunkards”.
He said: “Some governors are committed to the protection of their people. In my state, the governor awarded contracts for the renovation of schools and provides security services to them.
“In some states of Nigeria today, where we have highly intelligent people, highly educated people, very enterprising people, like Abia, they are governed by drunkards. The governor of Abia is a champagne drinking man.”
At this point, Senate President Ahmad Lawan cautioned him against the use of insulting language.
In his reply, Abaribe expressed surprise over Adeyemi’s “drunkard” comment and urged his colleague to apologise to the governor of Abia.
Abaribe said: “Mr President I will like to make a clarification. Unfortunately, what has happened here today is one of the problems that you see on social media. I never made any comments on the governor of Kogi State. Never.
“What has happened is what we see going on today. People write something and tag your name to it. And if you don’t ask question, you will not know whether you actually said it or not.
“I’m very surprised that my good friend and colleague decided to open up on the governor of Abia for something I never said.”
Lawan interjected, saying the air was cleared now and asked Abaribe to address the motion.
Abaribe agreed but said Smart owed an apology to the governor of Abia for the very bad statement he made that had no basis.
