Sunday Aborisade and Sunday Nwakanma
THE Senator representing Kogi West, Smart Adeyemi, threw caution to the winds on Tuesday, when he accused the Abia State Governor, Okezie Ikpeazu, as a drunkard.
Adeyemi was contributing to a debate on a motion by Senator Stephen Odey, tagged, “Urgent need for the restoration and revalidation of the safe school initiative in Nigeria,” when he suddenly deviated and started attacking Ikpeazu.
He was probably reacting to a social media post allegedly authored by the Abia South Senatorial District representative in the National Assembly, Enyinnaya Abaribe, which allegedly cast serious aspersion against the person of the Kogi State Governor, Yahaya Bello.
Adeyemi said, “Despite that some governors are doing their best, we are lucky to have a governor (in Kogi State), who has taken the issue of security as a serious priority.
“We are bordered by nine states, but we had an experience of the unfortunate incidents that are happening in neighbouring states.
“Some governors are committed to the protection of their people, in my state the governor awarded contracts for the renovations 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. “Abia people are impoverished more than ever before. Abia people are unfortunate.” The President of the Senate, Ahmad Lawan, cautioned Adeyemi on his use of language.
Reacting to Adeyemi’s attacks on his governor, Abaribe said, “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.
Adeyemi requires mental evaluation– Abia
In response to Adeyemi’s outburst, the Chief Press Secretary to Governor Okozie Ikpeazu, Mr. Onyebuchi Ememanka, in a statement, in Umuahia, on Tuesday said, “Our view is that the Senator is either suffering from a protracted case of mental illness or is battling with occasional fits of schizophrenia which manifests in making careless, dishonourable, unrelated and incoherent statements”.
“If Senator Adeyemi was of sound mind, he should have known that when it comes to education, Abia is miles ahead of his home state of Kogi, and a “non-compos mentis.
“For the avoidance of doubt, Governor Okezie Ikpeazu does not take alcoholic drinks and he is shocked at the schizophrenic outburst of Senator Adeyemi whom he has never met nor had any dealings whatsoever with officially nor privately.”
Governor Ikpeazu, therefore, advised the Senator to quickly “seek psychiatric help before his case becomes unmanageable.”