From Fred Itua, Abuja
Two senators from the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) have exchanged unfriendly banter on the floor of the upper legislative chamber over an alleged social media post.
The two senators, Enyinnaya Abaribe from Abia State and Smart Adeyemi from Kogi State, were at loggerheads when a motion on ‘Urgent need for the restoration and revalidation of the Safe School Initiative in Nigeria’ was debated.
Trouble started when Adeyemi was making his contribution. He veered off from the issue and attacked the governor of Abia State, Okezie Ikpeazu, calling him ‘a drunk and a whiskey consumer’.
He said he was reacting to a social media post where Abaribe allegedly attacked the governor of Kogi State, Yahaya Bello. He said unlike the Abia governor who has allegedly abandoned state functions to focus on consumption of whiskey, the Kogi governor was on the other hand providing security.
Senator Adeyemi was immediately rebuked by the President of the Senate, Ahmad Lawan. He cautioned him to mind his choice of words and should not insult anyone in the floor of the Senate.
Countering the Senator from Kogi, Abia Senator Abaribe demanded for apology. He called on Adeyemi to withdraw the statement immediately. Abaribe said at no time did he make any desparaging remark against Kogi State Governor.
He said Adeyemi was deceived by a fake social media post which he failed to verify before jumping the gun. He said many posts on social media are attributed to him which are false.
Senator Adeyemi has refused to withdraw the statement as at the time of this report.