Banter between Nyako and I was a mere joke – Orji

Governor Theodore Orji of Abia state has advised Nigerians to take his much-publicised banter with Governor Murtala Nyako of Adamawa state as a mere and usual joke between friends.

Orji made the clarification on Wednesday while fielding questions from newsmen in Umuahia on arrival from Abuja where he attended the Council of States meeting, adding that it was a joke which was not supposed to be for public consumption.

He said: “Those who know Governor Nyako will agree with me that he is my friend and has been here on several occasions and even commissioned projects, so it was a joke shared between myself and my brother governor from Adamawa state.

“Why are you people interested in that matter? I was surprised to see it in the paper. It is not worth it at all. Nyako is my friend. He was in Abia in 2007 and commissioned some projects. Normally, when we go for Council of State meeting we stay in alphabetical order, and he sits next to me.

“But this time he said he was not comfortable sitting between me and Akpabio, that we will poison him. But I know it was a joke. I told him if we did not poison him when he came here, we can’t poison him now.”