Remi Tinubu, senator representing Lagos central, on Tuesday, tackled Smart Adeyemi, her All Progressives Congress (APC) colleague from Kogi west, over the latter’s comments on Nigeria’s security challenges.
In recent weeks, the country has witnessed a spike in criminal activities, from the Boko Haram insurgency to banditry and kidnapping.
Sani Bello, Niger governor, said on Monday that Boko Haram has hoisted its flag in a Shiroro LGA of the state.
Contributing to a motion on the situation, a seemingly emotional Mr Adeyemi, who spoke for over five minutes, described the current state of insecurity in Nigeria as the worst so far.
“This is the worst instability we are facing. In fact this is worse than the civil war,” he said.
Mrs Tinubu who was sitting next to Mr Adeyemi during his contribution was heard chiding the latter.
“Are you in PDP? Are you a wolf in sheep’s clothing?,” Mrs Tinubu said rebuking the lawmaker.
Ignoring his colleague, Mr Adeyemi said there are a lot of misgivings, a lot of misinterpretation of what is happening.
“Some people believe that some people in government are supporting this move. We cannot pretend that we are capable of handling the situation in our hands. America, as powerful as they are, when the pandemic came, it came to a point China came to their rescue.
“We shouldn’t pretend that we need foreign support now. Billions of naira has been voted for security services and nothing is coming out of it.
“I’m a party man and I’m supporting APC but it has gotten to a point that as supporters we cannot keep quiet,” he said.
It is not exactly clear why Mrs Tinubu verbally ‘attacked’ Mr Adeyemi or why she made reference to the idiomatic expression, “wolf in sheep’s clothing” as he was not the only APC senator who spoke in that manner during Tuesday’s debate.
But Mr Adeyemi, unlike Mrs Tinubu, was a member of the PDP before he joined the APC.
