Abia State government, on Tuesday, alleged that senator representing Kogi West Smart Adeyemi, 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.
Onyebuchi Ememanka, chief press secretary to Governor Okezie Ikpeazu stated this in response to a statement credited to Adeyemi on the floor of the Senate, on Tuesday, where he described Abia as governed by drunkards and Ikpeazu as “champagne drinking governor.”
Ememanka said: “For the avoidance of doubt, Governor Ikpeazu does not take alcoholic drinks and he is shocked at the schizophrenic outburts of Adeyemi whom he has never met or had any dealings whatsoever with, officially or privately.
“If 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. Indeed, not just in education, but in every single area of development. If Adeyemi had his faculties intact, he should have known that under the watch of Governor Ikpeazu, Abia State has maintained first position in WAEC examinations in the entire country for five years now. Kogi has not come close to the first 20. Never.
“Ever since Ikpeazu became governor, there hasn’t been one single case of attack on any school anywhere in Abia State. Adeyemi is clearly non-compos mentis. If not, he 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, and still counting.
“It is obvious that Adeyemi is battling with acute dementia and has lost every of his instincts as a journalist. If not, he would have known that just last week, the National Bureau of Statistics adjudged Abia as number three on the list of states that attracted foreign direct investments, with only Lagos and Abuja ahead of Abia in the entire country. It takes much more than drinking champagne to guide a state from zero foreign investments to number three in the country. Kogi State featured prominently on the list of states that attracted zero investments. It is only a state that is peaceful and secure that has the capacity to attract such cross border investments.”
Ememanka said some weeks ago, the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) branded Kogi State unsafe for their consistent lip service to the COVID-19 pandemic. He said Adeyemi was never heard to have either responded to that statement by the NCDC or raise it on the floor of the Senate.
“Yet, he has the effrontery, or rather, the buffoonery, to abuse a governor whose state has maintained one of the lowest COVID-19 fatality rates in the country through proactive measures to protect our people. Between a governor who has consistently denied the existence of COVID and the one who has put in place measures to protect his people, one wonders who is the drunkard. Governor Ikpeazu concludes by advising the senator to quickly seek psychiatric help before his case becomes unmanageable.”
