Ekerete Udoh, the spokesperson for Governor Umo Eno of Akwa Ibom State, has stated that the administration is “battle-ready” to confront Mr Eno’s critics.
“Let me sound it loud and clear here that we are battle-tested media veterans,” Mr Udoh said at a media briefing on 1 December in Uyo, the Akwa Ibom capital, apparently referring to himself and other media aides—over 30 of them—to the governor.
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“The political season may have started too early in Akwa Ibom, and let me say this, we will vigorously, decisively, and in the spirit of take no prisoners. I emphasise again, (we’ll) take no prisoners. We will defend the honour of the governor, his integrity, his good works against the merchants and purveyors of blackmail and mischief,” he added.
Mr Udoh said Governor Eno has come under “coordinated attack” on social media lately, and that those attacking the governor “are not motivated by the principles of common good”.
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“Be careful of what you are doing,” he said of Mr Eno’s critics. “We are watching you.”
The press briefing was held at the Ministry of Information and chaired by the Commissioner for Information, Aniekan Umanah, who endorsed the outrageous remarks by Governor Eno’s spokesperson.
“You all know what is in the air. Just like he (Udoh) said, we are ready,” Mr Umanah said to the journalists present at the briefing, after Mr Udoh handed the microphone to him.
According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, to take no prisoners is an idiomatic phrase which means to be aggressively harsh, tough, or relentless.
Criticisms against Eno
After his defection from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressives Congress (APC) in June, Governor Eno has faced criticism for his outrageous remarks and broken promise to run a cross-party administration, as well as his outright attacks on the PDP and its leaders and members in the state.
For instance, Mr Eno said recently that being a member of the APC is a prerequisite for appointments and contract awards in the oil-rich state.
In May, shortly before his defection, Mr Eno had vowed before his cabinet members that he would not relinquish the PDP structure in the state, even as he became a member of the APC.
“Contrary to insinuations that I want to run both parties, far from it. And what is wrong with being interested? We would not leave the PDP for thieves to come and hijack it and use it to fight against us.
“We will lead the structure of the party so that they can work together and stay so that people don’t come from outside and think Umo Eno has moved, let me come and hijack the party. No, let the structure of the party remain. They’ve done their congresses, let them run and let it be that they are there,” Mr Eno said.
The members of the Government House Uyo Press Corps, which included the Channels Television crew, were present when Mr Eno made the remarks.
After the meeting and sensing that Mr Eno’s remarks would definitely attract criticism, the governor’s spokesperson, Mr Udoh, quickly ordered all the correspondents at the press corps to suppress the story and not to publish the video clip of the governor’s remarks. However, Channels Television published the video clip, prompting the governor to ban the station’s reporter, Christopher Moffat, and the cameraman, Kufre Ikpe, from the press corps.
Because of Mr Eno’s repressive actions against the Channels Television crew, the International Press Institute Nigeria blacklisted the governor on 2 December for serious violations of press freedom and democratic norms.
NUJ refuses to comment
Nsibiet John, the chairperson of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Akwa Ibom State Council, was present at the briefing where Governor Eno’s spokesperson made the “We’ll take no prisoners” comment.
When contacted on Monday, Mr John told our reporter that he did not stay till the end of the briefing, and that he was not present when Mr Udoh made the comment.
The NUJ chairperson insisted he would not react to the remarks unless he saw a video clip of the spokesperson’s comment.
Mr John acknowledged receipt of the clip forwarded to him by our reporter, but afterwards declined to take the reporter’s calls seeking his reaction.
Like Mr John, Sunday Antai, a former NUJ chairperson in Akwa Ibom, declined to speak on the matter when contacted by PREMIUM TIMES on Monday.
Mr Antai, a publisher of a local newspaper in the state, suggested that the remarks could be viewed from “different perspectives” and that anyone could choose to like it or dislike it.
Our reporter asked him if he was comfortable with the spokesperson’s comments. “Well, I won’t say I was comfortable or not comfortable,” he responded.
The former NUJ chairperson declined to speak when asked to confirm if newspapers were doing enough to hold Governor Eno and his administration accountable.
