The President of the Senate, Senator Godswill Akpabio, has been warned to stop discrediting the exalted office the Senate President.

Ibomites for Progressive Governance (IPG), a nascent social-political organization, gave this warning at the weekend in Abuja.

The group was reacting to a statement credited to Sen. Akpabio in which he allegedly claimed that that he sent his wife, Ekaette Akpabio, with a letter to the Government House, Uyo, wherein he requested to pay a courtesy visit to the immediate past Governor, Mr Udom Emmanuel, but that his wife was stopped at the gate.

While speaking at the reception held in his honour at Ikot-Ekpene, Akwa Ibom State, at the weekend, Sen. Akpabio reportedly claimed that his wife was left at the gate of the Government House for hours without access to enter the premises.

Reacting to this in Abuja, the IPG, through its National Secretary, Mr Chris Effiong, described the claim as “a cheap lie,” noting that the wife of the Senate President is not “a mail runner” and urged him to stop being unguarded in public speaking.

The group said: “The truth is that no such incident ever happened. Mrs. Akpabio was never ever left at the gate of Government House, Uyo, as falsely stated by her husband, Senator Akpabio. Senator Akpabio lied, pure and simple. No former First Lady can be kept at the gate of any Government House. It appears that this is the figment of Senator Akpabio’s imagination.

“It is therefore incredible and deeply concerning that a man who occupies the Number three position in our country could resort to cheap blackmail before a national audience.

“We challenge Sen. Akpabio to show evidence of this incident. The former First Lady usually travels with a retinue of aides including media. There is no way Senator Akpabio’s wife would have been kept waiting for five hours without a pictorial or video evidence taken by her media team.

“The bile and animosity Senator Akpabio has towards the immediate past Governor of Akwa Ibom State H.E., Udom Emmanuel, CON, is deeply concerning if he could weave such an outrageous lie against the former governor.

“Akpabio should stop these intentional lies he manufactures against the former governor and understand that by his unguarded utterances he is discrediting the exalted office of the Senate President of Nigeria.”