As the furore over governor Udom Emmanuel’s decision to hand-pick the Commissioner for Lands and Water Resources, Pastor Umo Eno, as his would-be successor in 2023 continues, a coalition of youth groups have warned those opppsed to the Governor’s choice to maintain decorum and stop blackmailing him.
This followed derogatory comments allegedly made at a rally organized by the youths of Eket Senatorial District on Saturday in honour of Senator Bassey Albert Akpan, who is seeking to succeed incumbent governor Udom Emmanuel by a former Chief of Staff, CoS, Mr Ephraim Inyang-eyen, who was controversialy relieved of his appointnent last month and who denounced any divine revelation claims by the Governor about his successor.
The groups, Uyo Senatorial District Media Practitioners Forum, USDMPF, and its Eket counterpart, Association of Eket Senatorial District Media Professionals, AESDMP, at a joint press conferebce in Uyo yesterday, dismissed the accusations, describing them as “a mere entitlement mentality”.
The Chairman, Elder Ofonime Isong, addressed journalists on behalf of the Uyo group, while Comrade Jeremiah Edoho, spoke for the Eket group.
“Mr Ephraim Inyang-eyen alluded that in 2014, Senator Akpan, stepped down for govetnor Emmanuel and that it is time to be compensated. This is a tissue of lie, and an attempt to review history. It begs to ask, if it was the turn of Eket zone to produce the governor in 2015, is it logical to for Senator Akpan to claim that he stepped down for the governor in 2014?
“Secondly, Mr Inyangeyen, erroneously said that in 2019, Akpan, was the only Senator who supported governor Emmanuel, when his other colleagues from Ikot Ekpene and Eket, had deserted the governor by joining the opposition APC. This again, is deceptive to mislead the collective psyche of the people and attempt to blackmail the governor”, Isong stressed.
They urged the feuding parties to desist from further overheating the polity as, according to them, the Governor has right to make his choice, adding that such decision does foreclose the chances of any aspirant from trying his luck.
Inyangeyen had told the crowd that “God never revealed Pastor Eno, to governor Emmanuel”, and urged the governor to reciprocate the good gesture to him by Senator Akpan, who stood down for him in the 2014 governorship primary and supported his re-election in 2019.
Besides, Akpan, who recalled the two cases, said it was wrong for the governor not to reward gestures as the governorship slot return to the Uyo Senatorial District, in 2023.
He told the youths that he would not jettison his ambition again, no matter whos Ox was gored and, therefore, urged the youths to remain resolute as events unfold.
