By Deborah Nnamdi
Former Senate President and the Chairman of the Board of Trustees (BoT) of the main opposition Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Senator Adolphus Wabara, has said that he would not join issues with the Minister for Federal Capital Territory, FCT, Mr Nyesom Wike over the latter’s denigrating media comment on him.
Recall that Wike had in a live interview on national television over the weekend, said that if Wabara were to be his father, he (Wike) would have disowned him (Wabara).
Wike who was responding to a question on the leadership crisis rocking the PDP, said:” Unfortunately, they have a man they said is a former Senate President. If that man was my father, I would have disowned him. If he was my father or related to me, I would have disowned him. He doesn’t qualify to be. No wonder President Obasanjo made a presidential broadcast under his tenure about corruption. That’s the man leading PDP BoT.”
Senator Wabara who spoke on the heels of the outburst by Wike, simply said that as an elder statesman who had been privileged to be Nigeria’s Number Three Citizen, it would be undignifying for him to begin to trade words with the FCT Minister.
The former Senate President, however, said that he had expected the FCT Minister to refrain from unguarded utterances, at least as a mark of respect for the position “he occupies as a Minister of the Federal Republic, and as a former Governor.”
Senator Wabara said it was disgraceful for a supposed man of honor to speak without decorum, adding that spewing gibberish like a broken water pipe without a tap is not a mark of maturity.
Wabara, who distanced himself from corruption, said:” I will expect a man of his caliber and status to mind his language and words. He should be sure of his facts. But I don’t want to join issues with Wike and dignify him.“
Frankly for a son to disown his father, his father must have wronged him terribly. Can Wike please tell the world what it is I did wrong to him?”
Talking about corruption, Nigerians know those who are corrupt, and I can proudly say and beat my chest that I’m not one of them I, Adolphus Wabara, I’m not corrupt! I won’t be joining issues with people who have no respect for elders”.
