 |
| Mr. Udom Emmanuel (right) with Obong Bassey Albert Akpan at Planet FM studio, Uyo |
By Nse Peter
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governorship candidate in
Akwa Ibom State, Mr. Udom Emmanuel has said it is not true that Umana Okon
Umana brought him into the Akwa Ibom government circle, let alone introduced
him (Udom) to Governor Godswill Akpabio as a possible replacement to Bassey
Albert Akpan who was the finance commissioner then in Akpabio’s administration
when Umana was the Secretary to the State Government.
“The idea of bringing Udom Emmanuel to serve as Secretary to
the Akwa Ibom Government didn’t come from any other individual, apart from
Governor Godswill Akpabio,” Udom Emmanuel said, during an interview last week with
Planet FM in Uyo. “His (Akpabio’s) binocular searched and found me somewhere,
and I had to come and serve my people.”
The immediate past SSG was responding to a question on the
lingering rumour that he was brought into the Akwa Ibom State government by the
then SSG, Umana Okon Umana, with the intention to replace Bassey Albert Akpan
as finance commissioner. Udom was an executive director in Zenith Bank before
he succeeded Umana as SSG.
The rumour started flying around Uyo when Umana’s office
within the Akwa Ibom Government House complex was raided by a team of policemen
led by Godswill Akpabio’s wife, Unoma in July, 2013, before Umana was replaced later
with Udom Emmanuel.
The interviewer in the radio programme, Akwa Ibom Decides, Mr. Sammy Akpan had said to the PDP governorship
candidate that people in the streets believe he “was brought to send OBA (Obong
Bassey Albert) out of the financial responsibility of the state,” and went
ahead to ask who between Akpabio and Umana brought him into the government.
Udom Emmanuel dismissed the issue as being mere rumour.
But Bassey Albert Akpan in an earlier interview with Sammy
Akpan claimed that Umana wanted him removed from Akpabio’s cabinet.
“Obong Umana Okon Umana
felt I was a threat to his governorship ambition and because of his perceived
closeness to His Excellency (Gov. Akpabio) and felt he could use his office to
get me off his way,” said Akpan who is the PDP standard-bearer for the Uyo
Senatorial District election.
He thanked Akpabio “for sticking to the voice of reasoning
by insisting I must stay with him and that I must not be sacked.”
Umana sees the allegation and similar ones which give the
impression that he had had controlling influence on Akpabio as being
ridiculous. “It is ridiculous because it is only the governor who can hire and
fire,” Mr. Umana told journalists, late 2013, in Uyo.
“If I had the power to sack a commissioner, was it also
possible that I would put a gun to the governor’s head, get him to nominate
people of my choice to replace those sacked and force him to sign the letters
to the House of Assembly for their confirmation.”
Umana who is running for governor of Akwa Ibom State as a
candidate of All Progressives Congress (APC) said he did not nominate Udom
Emmanuel into the government of Akwa Ibom State.
Interestingly, while Udom Emmanuel debunked Bassey Albert’s
claim against Umana, the former finance commissioner who accompanied him to the
studio, sat beside him throughout the duration of the interview as a show of
solidarity for his governorship ambition. Akpan initially campaigned for the
governorship ticket of PDP, before he withdrew under controversial
circumstances for Udom Emmanuel.
“My brother here – Obong Bassey Albert Akpan – was serving
already as a commissioner (of finance), and if you know who Udom Emmanuel is!
Udom Emmanuel is one man that does not believe in struggling for space, because
we believe that your skills at any point in time should speak for you,” Udom
said during the interview, and added that the governor is constitutionally
empowered to decide the fate of anyone he appoints into any office.
“If it is by appointment, let no one make that mistake, even
your blood brother can fill that appointment, even your wife could fill it,” he
said.
No comments:
Post a Comment