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A group of media practitioners operating under the aegis of Uyo Senatorial District Media Practitioners Forum (USDMPF) has raised the alarm over reports in some national tabloids of February 10, 2022 in which a militant group operating with the pseudonym “Unyekisong Akwa Ibom” had given Governor Udom Emmanuel one month to reverse the endorsement of Umo Eno as his preferred candidate for 2023 guber election in the state.
The group in an open letter to the Inspector General of Police, ‘Re: Militants Issue Ultimatum to Governor Emmanuel over Preferred Successor’ endorsed by Pastor Michael Okon Head, Publicity & Strategic Communication Uyo Senatorial District Media Practitioners Forum, drew the attention of the police boss to the alleged threat to peace in the state by the statement credited to the militants in the said report.
According to USDMPF: “This group of obscurantists issued a threat message to the Governor of Akwa Ibom State, Mr Udom Emmanuel over his preferred successor, Pastor Umo Eno.
“First, these petty minds seem oblivious of the fundamental rights and the humanity of man to have preferences in life.”
The statement further explained: “While the threat on the governor over his preferred successor, Pastor Umo Eno, cannot be divorced from a certain governorship aspirant, who sees politics as a zero – sum game of always winning at the expense of societal peace and stability, it begs at this point to ask, should the peace of Akwa Ibom be sacrificed on the altar of selfish aggrandizement and accumulation instinct of some politicians? What makes the governorship seat the exclusive right of any Federal Constituency in Uyo Senatorial District?”
The group further highlighted that the current zoning of the governorship seat in the state dates back to the inception of the Fourth Republic (May 29, 1999). In the case of Uyo Senatorial District, Uyo Federal Constituency was the first to take its turn from 1999- 2007.
“If the governor in his wisdom, has seen someone capable of deepening his vision for the state from either of the two federal constituencies, it won’t be out place for others to throw their weight behind one of them,” they retorted.
The group further averred: “It can be recalled that ‘political and economic inclusion’ was an agendum in Governor Emmanuel’s 5-point Agenda, aimed at integrating every group and element into his administration. This was predicated on the indissoluble fact that the governor sees the people as the locus of political power – and is determined to empower them politically, socially and economically.”
The Media group noted that Akwa Ibom is the most peaceful state in Nigeria stressing that they do not take for granted, by any stretch of negative imagination from any quarter.
“Having enthroned peace and egalitarianism in Akwa Ibom State, should Governor Udom Emmanuel hand over the peaceful state of Akwa Ibom to those who care less about the peace, unity and coexistence of every group in the state? This question, in our considered opinion, is the reason Governor Udom Emmanuel is determined to deepen the peace and pace of development in the state by bequeathing the state a worthy successor in the person of Umo Bassey Eno.
“It must be noted that Pastor Umo Bassey Eno, the preferred successor of Governor Udom Emmanuel is a man of impeccable character who has repeatedly said that he would not mortgage the peace of the state for anything.
“We in Uyo Senatorial District Media Practitioners’ Forum call on you to speedily investigate the source of the threat issued to Governor Udom Emmanuel and mount a ‘cordon sanitaire’ (an iron ring) on the perpetrators of this callous misrepresentation and threat, to avoid any form of bloodbath in the state.”
