Akpabio , Etiebet In War Of Words Over Comments At Church Service

Akwa Ibom State government has described as outright falsehood and misplaced thought, a statement credited to Don Etiebet in a press conference that Governor Godswill Akpabio recently called on youths in the state to take up arms against their elders.

Speaking to newsmen in Uyo, while reacting to the statement, Commissioner for Information and Communications, Mr. Aniekan Umanah, said: “Claims by Etiebet is, to say the least, preposterous, spurious and attempt by Etiebet to act out a written script by the opposition in the state to set the youths of the state, who have been so supportive of his administration against the governor,”
He added: “I wonder how a message by the governor admonishing the youths to take their destiny in their hands, by ensuring that they show more than a passing interest in the affairs of the state, could be twisted by Etiebet and his co-travelers to mean instigating the youths against the elders.”

On the allegation of profligacy against the governor, Umanah said” “It baffles every right-thinking person on why those who, seven years ago, sang the praise of the governor for his uncommon infrastructural renaissance and prudent management of the state resources, have today, eaten their words because of succession and selfish politics.”
But the former Minister of Petroleum Resources and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Board of Trustees (BoT) member, Chief Don Etiebet, had accused Akwa Ibom State Governor, Godswill Akpabio, of pitting the youths against elders of the state.
Addressing a press conference in Uyo, yesterday, Etiebet in company with Senator Aloysius Etok and other political leaders in the state, alleged that the governor had in a church service organized to commemorate the 27th anniversary of the creation of the state, made statements which did not only bring discord among the people of the state, but also incited the youths to “rise against their elders.”
Buttressing his argument, the former national chairman of the defunct All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) alleged that Akpabio had on the said occasion said: “The youth of the state, you have a responsibility, the future belongs to you… On this 27th anniversary, my challenge to you is not to look at the elders.”
Urging the youths to ignore the governor’s comments, Etiebet said: “We elders and leaders of the party in the state therefore use this opportunity to call on our youths to know that though the future belongs to you, but for today, you need your elders for training, counselling, advice, direction, blessing and preparation to take over tomorrow.”
He charged the youths to reflect on happenings in the state and decide whether they would want to remain ruled by “one man and his family through his continued governance by proxies, or decide to produce leaders of your choice, the people’s choice, so that one day, you can be that choice without having to succumb to the caprices of one man and his family.”
The former presidential candidate of National Centre Party of Nigeria (NCPN), who also debunked the alleged statement by Akpabio that the elders were on the state’s payroll, challenged the governor to back up his alleged claims with facts, saying the governor only made the accusation because the elders had cautioned him against wasteful spending of the state’s money.
“Just because we elders have counselled him against extreme profligacy, arbitrary and non-budgetary spending, awards of inflated contracts and without due processes, lack of accountability in budget implementation, lack of information and transparency on total receipts of revenues from all sources and other financial recklessness, covered up in a blitz of uncommon propaganda for the uninformed, he has to lie against us,” Etiebet alleged.
Comparing the PDP in the state with other states, Etiebet contended that while the party in other states were persuading elders who had left for one reason or the other to come back, PDP in the state, at the command of the governor, was shutting the door against elders and leaders in the state, a plot that would, according to him, allow the governor the opportunity to manipulate the forthcoming congresses and primaries of the party.
But reacting to the press conference, the state Commissioner for Information, Mr. Aniekan Umana, said it was unfortunate that Etiebet could level such allegations against the governor.
Umana said: “It is totally untrue to say that Akpabio is chasing away elders from the party in the state. The leadership of the party is intact; there is no problem in the party. If anybody has a contrary opinion, it is left for the person.
“Again, the governor never incited the youths against the elders; he only challenged the youths to rise up and take their place in the scheme of things as the leaders of tomorrow, which is even Biblical. So, saying that the governor incited the youths is a clear misrepresentation of facts.”