Hon. Ikenga Ugochinyere, a member of the House of Representatives and Chairman Downstream Petroleum Committee, has lampooned the Senate President, Sen. Godswill Akpabio, for purportedly turning the burial of late Access Bank CEO, Herbert Wigwe, wife, and first son, to a political attack.
Ugochinyere’s reaction came on the heels of the banter between the Governor of Rivers, Siminalayi Fubara, and Akpabio at the Wigwes’ burial ceremony in Rivers State on Saturday.
Governor Fubara had, while delivering his tribute at the burial, said: “What’s all these struggle about. You want to kill, bury, what’s it all about?”
Responding, the Senate President, said: “What’s the struggle about? I will answer you. In 2006, I wanted to be deputy governor. The then deputy governor invited me and said this office has no money. There’s nothing in it. I don’t know why you still insist on removing me from here and taking over.
“So a woman who went with me said ‘your Excellency then don’t wait for impeachment just resign if there’s nothing in it’. And I said ‘it’s true that’s why I want it. You’re too big for it.’ So, Mr Fubara, if there’s nothing in the struggle. don’t struggle.”
Reacting to this, Ugochinyere in a statement described Akpabio’s utterance as unnecessary and wondered why the Senate President would decide to use such a sad event to score political points.
He stated that Fubara had never had issues with Akpabio, recalling that, although a PDP governor, Fubara urged federal lawmakers-elect from the state to vote for Godswill Akpabio, who is of the APC, as Senate president in the 10th National Assembly.
Ugochinyere said this is not the first time Akpabio, formerly of the PDP, would be meddling in opposition politics, adding that the PDP won’t continue to tolerate it.
He said: “The Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, should stop meddling in opposition politics. Last month Akpabio at a function in the Tai Local Government area of the state asked the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, Nyesom Wike, to look for someone of Ogoni extraction to succeed the state governor, Siminialayi Fubara, in 2027.
“Today he’s responding to a remark by the governor that has nothing to do with him. The opposition is urging the Senate president to be mindful of his utterances. How can he turn the burial of late Access Bank CEO, Herbert Wigwe, wife and first son, such a sad moment to a political attack? It’s disappointing. That’s political recklessness taken too far. We the opposition parties won’t tolerate such utterances anymore if it continues.”
