A former Senate President, Adolphus Wabara, said that he would not join issues with the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Mr Nyesom Wike, over his alleged denigrating media comment on him.
Wabara, the Chairman, Board of Trustees (BoT) of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), said this during a telephone interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Umuahia on Monday.
Wike, during a live interview on national television over the weekend allegedly said that if Wabara were his father, he would disown him.
Wike, while responding to a question on the leadership crisis rocking PDP, allegedly said: “It’s unfortunate 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 Olusegun Obasanjo made a presidential broadcast under his tenure about corruption. That’s the man leading PDP BoT.”
Reacting to the outburst, Wabara said that as an elder statesman who had been privileged to be Nigeria’s Number three citizen, it would not be dignified for him to begin to trade words with Wike.
Wabara, 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 occupied.
The former Senate President who distanced himself from corruption said: ” I will expect a man of his (Wike) calibre 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 and won’t be joining issues with people who have no respect for elders,” he said. (NAN)