By Loveday Chidi
A habitual drinker of alcohol who is frequently intoxicated is known as a drunkard according to the dictionary definition.
When you’re drunk your attitude changes. To buttress further, in the bible book of Proverbs, King Solomon made us know that wine is a mocker, strong drink a brawler, and whoever is led astray by it is not wise.
The APC senator representing Kogi West district woke up one morning and in his quest for prominence decided to verbally attack Governor Okezie Ikpeazu Ikpeazu of Abia state, a PDP governor, on the floor of the Senate by calling him a drunkard during a plenary session.
The lawmaker, who was making his contribution to a motion on the urgent need for the restoration and revalidation of the Safe School Initiative in Nigeria, said Abia State is governed by drunkards.
“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, he said
Probing into the house of Smart Adeyemi and his contributions as a senator for three consecutive times, an unbiased reader will agree with me that he is the “Genuine Drunkard”.
Lest we forget, In May 2010 the Daily Sun said Adeyemi had asked the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to start an investigation of members of the National Assembly whom he alleged were corrupt. Adeyemi said that he had been misquoted. He said, “I never said this National Assembly is corrupt, but if there are a few that are corrupt the EFCC should go ahead to expose them.”
Despite his denial, Senate President David Mark announced a six-man ad hoc committee to investigate the issue, describing it as a serious allegation. The committee was to be chaired by Senate Chief Whip Kanti Bello and to include Senators Ayogu Eze, Olorunnimbe Mamora, James Manager, Adamu Talba and Zainab Kure.
Going by our definition, who is a “Drunkard”, the alcoholic Smart Adeyemi or the workaholic Governor Okezie Ikpeazu?
A senator after gulping alcoholic beverages will come to the plenary session to speak incoherently only to regain from his hangover to say it is not what he said.
No wonder his brother and predecessor from the same senatorial district, Sen. Dino Melaye in a tweet while reacting to the excessiveness of the confirmed drunkard, Sen. Smart Adeyemi Melaye described Adeyemi as a drug addict.
In a tweet, Melaye wrote: “It is shocking that a diabolical father of a known drug addict who even went to a rehabilitation centre will call the decent Governor of Abia State names. I apologise on behalf of this bloodthirsty senator”.
Is it not an irony that under the administration of a “drunkard”, as the confused Adeyemi called our dear governor, a report on capital importation into the country, compiled by the Central Bank of Nigeria was released by the National Bureau of Statistics, NBS and Abia governed by a “Drunkard” picked the third place. Where is Kogi state governed by a “focused government” installed by Adeyemi?
Also most recently, Abia state governed by a “Drunkard”, emerged as a state with Improved State Security. Please where is Sen. Smart Adeyemi’s Kogi state when a “drunken” working governor of Abia state achieved these indelible feats?
I must agree with the spokesman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), who described Senator Smart Adeyemi’s attack on Abia State Governor, Okezie Ikpeazu, as one borne out of jealousy and envy of the governor’s achievements.
And Governor Okezie Ikpeazu response to Adeyemi is that of maturity and is highly commendable, that coming from an intellectual giant.
For the records, Governor Ikpeazu while replying to Adeyemi said “In other places or countries that have lesser problems, their leaders discuss issues of security, big issues of economic development, infrastructure development, they don’t talk about what people do and what they did not do,”.
My view is not different from that of the chief press secretary of Abia state governor, Sir Onyebuchi Ememanka, who rightly put it, “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.”
