Governor Umo Eno of Akwa Ibom State has denied the allegation that he is working with the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources (Gas), Ekperikpo Ekpo, to sabotage President Bola Tinubu’s second-term ambition.
The governor’s spokesperson, Ekerete Udoh, in a statement on Thursday, said the allegation was contained in an advertorial published in The Nation newspaper on 22 January and sponsored by an “amorphous group, Concerned Members of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Akwa Ibom State.”
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Mr Udoh described the publication as a “politically motivated hatchet job, maliciously concocted rich cocktail of lies and blackmail against Mr Eno.”
According to Mr Udoh, the purveyors of the advertorial intended to strain Governor Eno’s warm relationship with the trio of President Tinubu, Senate President Goodwill Akpabio, and Mr Ekpo.
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The statement said Governor Eno had not formed an alliance with the PDP in the state to “support a Northern presidential candidate or clandestinely work to deliver the South-South region to the PDP presidential candidate in 2027,” as the group alleged.
“It is unfortunate to note that while President Tinubu is rallying the nation to support his bold and audacious economic plans aimed at taking our nation out of the current economic challenges—which Governor Eno has enthusiastically and openly endorsed and has severally canvassed support for—this faceless group could maliciously concoct such lies, falsehoods, and blackmail against the Governor.
“It is obvious that the promoters of this faceless group hate the current peace, amity, and spirit of bipartisanship that Governor Eno has promoted in the state,” the statement added.
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The “faceless group” had also accused Mr Ekpo of being recruited by Governor Eno to sabotage Mr Tinubu’s aspiration, an allegation the minister denied.
Eno focuses on bipartisan collaborations
Akwa Ibom is a traditional PDP state; since the return of democracy in 1999, the party has produced all four successive governors in the state.
Unlike his predecessors, Mr Eno, a PDP member, has been working across party lines, embracing leaders of the main opposition APC in the state, particularly Mr Akpabio and Mr Ekpo, since the governor was sworn into office in May 2023.
READ ALSO: Eno authorises commencement of minimum wage payment in Akwa Ibom
The governor’s spokesperson said Mr Eno, working across party lines, has cancelled the group’s “deeply entrenched selfish interest in stoking tensions in the state and profiting from the chaos and unnecessary political wars they had helped ignite.
“Truth be told, Governor Eno is focused on working collaboratively with the President Tinubu-led Federal Government, the National Assembly led by Mr Akpabio, our son, to achieve the Arise Agenda for the betterment of the people of Akwa Ibom State. This is the time for governance and not for political gamesmanship.”
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