The Governor of Akwa Ibom State, Udom Emmanuel has responded
to the statement credited to the Kogi State Governor, Alhaji Yahaya Bello and
signed by his Director-General, Media and Publicity, Kingsley Fanwo where he
was chided.
In a paid advertorial, Bello took issues with his Akwa Ibom
governor for describing Senator Dino Melaye, lawmaker representing Kogi West
Senatorial District as a “General” in the Senate during the recent empowerment
event by the Senate Minority Leader, Senator Godswill Akpabio (CON) held in
Ikot Ekpene.
But Governor Udom, while responding to his Kogi State
counterpart, said he does not intend to immerse himself in the politics of
zero-sum game that is currently playing out in Kogi State, adding that in Akwa
Ibom he plays politics of inclusion, where accent is placed on delivering the
best democratic dividends to his people.
Udom, who spoke through his Senior Special Assistant on
Media/Chief Press Secretary, Ekerete Udoh slammed Governor Bello’s media team
for not giving their principal professional advice before responding to issues.
He described the statement credited to the Governor’s chief
media handler as unfortunately, pugnacious in context, pettifogger in tone and
tenor and supercilious at best.
“The job of professionally- minded media handlers of a
public servant is to dispassionately present an unvarnished truth about a given
situation to his principal and advise him on the best possible means of
reaction.
“We are afraid the Kogi State Governor was not served well
by his Director-General of Media and Publicity here otherwise he would have
resisted the rush to direct the issuance of a press statement where he was
quoted to have said a number of unsanitized things about a Brother Governor on
an issue that was at best innocuous and done with no malice.
“Governor Yahaha Bello’s media team should align with
globally acceptable best practices in democratic governance where leaders are
usually circumspect in their choice of words while engaging their counterparts.
If the Governor’s media team truly meant well, it should have advised the
Governor that he will look snippy, truculent and un-gubernatorial in the court
of public opinion if he were seen to be joining issues with his Brother
Governor”, he said.
He added that his administration is not interested in the
local politics of Kogi State.
“If His Excellency, Governor Yahaya Bello has challenges
paying salaries since we don’t have such problems here in our State, as our
civil servants get paid regularly.”
Daily Post
