Abia rep flays senator, seeks apology
Abia State Governor Okezie Ikpeazu, yesterday, expressed disgust with the reported unprovoked remarks made against him on the floor of the Senate on Monday by the senator representing Kogi West, Mr. Smart Adeyemi.
The senator had, while contributing to a motion on ‘Safe School Initiative in Nigeria, reportedly described Ikpeazu as a “champagne drinking man.”
Adeyemi said that while his Kogi State governor had awarded contracts for renovation of schools, the needful was not done in Abia State because the people of Abia are being governed by ‘drunkards.’
Chief Press Secretary (CPS) to the Governor, Onyebuchi Emememka, in a statement, yesterday, stated that Governor Ikpeazu does not take alcoholic drinks, adding that he was “shocked at the schizophrenic outbursts of Senator Adeyemi whom he (Ikpeazu) has never met or had any dealings whatsoever with officially or privately.”
According to the CPS, “Governor Ikpeazu makes it abundantly clear to the senator that save for the parliamentary privilege which he unfortunately enjoys, Senator Adeyemi would have been put to the strictest proof of his wild and senseless comments before a court of law.”
The CPS said that Abia State under the watch of Ikpeazu surpassed Kogi State in every area of development, urging Adeyemi to seek urgent psychiatric evaluation before his case becomes unimaginable.
He recalled that Abia State had maintained first position in WAEC examinations in the entire country for five years now, and Kogi State had never come close to the first 20, adding: “Our view is that the senator is either suffering from a protracted case of mental illness or battling with occasional fits of schizophrenia, which manifests in making careless, dishonourable, unrelated and incoherent statements.
“If not, he (Adeyemi) would have known that while his state is still awarding contracts for the renovation of schools, Abia had long completed more than 500 classroom projects scattered across schools in Abia State, and still counting.”
The CPS further said that the National Bureau of Statistics had adjudged Abia State as No. 3 on the list of states that attracted foreign direct investments, with only Lagos and Abuja ahead of Abia State in the entire country, adding that Kogi State featured prominently on the list of states that attracted zero investments.
MEANWHILE, a representative of Arochkwu/Ohafia Federal Constituency in Abia State in the House of Representatives, Uko Nkole, has flayed Adeyemi over the uncomplimentary remarks against Ikpeazu.
He said that Adeyemi should without delay and within the next two legislative days on the floor of the Senate publicly retract his ugly remarks and apologise in clear and unambiguous language for his undignified outburst.”
