The All Progressives Congress (APC) youth wing in Akwa Ibom State, under the banner of the APC Media Network, has strongly criticized the Uyo Senatorial District Media Practitioners Forum (USDMPF) over derogatory remarks allegedly made against Senate President Senator Godswill Akpabio and the Minister of Petroleum Resources (Gas), Obongemem Ekperikpe Ekpo, both prominent APC leaders.<\/p>\n
The controversy stems from a statement issued by the USDMPF, in which its Director of Public and Strategic Communication, Victor Etim, questioned Minister Ekperikpe Ekpo\u2019s right to advise Akwa Ibom State Governor Umo Eno on convening a peace meeting between Senator Akpabio and former governor Udom Emmanuel. The USDMPF argued that Ekpo lacked the authority to make such an appeal, reviving old grievances from Akpabio’s political past.<\/p>\n
In the statement, the USDMPF raised provocative questions: \u201cWhere was Ekperikpe Ekpo when Akpabio proclaimed a war cry, declaring that he would invade Akwa Ibom with federal might and capture the state in three hours? Where was Obongemem when Akpabio issued an ultimatum, demanding that everyone working in the Government House Uyo should vacate by December 31, 2018, leaving the then-Governor Udom Emmanuel with only his wife and driver?\u201d<\/p>\n
The group further accused Akpabio and Ekpo of being behind agitations against the recently amended Traditional Ruler’s law.<\/p>\n
Responding to these allegations, the APC youths described USDMPF as a group of “media hustlers” allegedly performing “dirty jobs” for chieftains of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in order to earn a living. They dismissed the criticisms as a deliberate attempt to stir up unnecessary political conflict in the state.<\/p>\n
Otuekong Iniobong John, Director General of the APC Media Network, issued a statement urging the patrons of USDMPF to rein in their rhetoric, warning that their inflammatory remarks could reignite avoidable political crises in Akwa Ibom. He emphasized that bringing up past political disputes would only harm the state’s progress.<\/p>\n
According to John, Minister Ekperikpe Ekpo\u2019s call for a peace meeting between Akpabio and Emmanuel aligns with Governor Umo Eno\u2019s message of peace and reconciliation, as highlighted during the Akwa Ibom State anniversary church service. He stressed that both Akpabio and Ekpo are committed to using their respective positions to foster development in the state and should be appreciated for their efforts, not slandered.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Hon. Minister of Petroleum Resources (Gas), Obongemem Ekperikpe Ekpo, in calling on the State Governor, Pst Umo Eno, to convene a peace meeting between Senator Godswill Akpabio and Mr. Udom Emmanuel, was only keying into the message of peace and reconciliation preached by the State Governor,” John said.<\/p>\n
He further added, \u201cSenator Godswill Akpabio and Obongemem Ekperikpe Ekpo have demonstrated their commitment to using their respective positions to partner with the Akwa Ibom State Government to attract development to the state and should be appreciated and not traduced.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The All Progressives Congress (APC) youth wing in Akwa Ibom State, under the banner of the APC Media Network, has strongly criticized the Uyo Senatorial District Media Practitioners Forum (USDMPF) over derogatory remarks allegedly made against Senate President Senator Godswill Akpabio and the Minister of Petroleum Resources (Gas), Obongemem Ekperikpe Ekpo, both prominent APC leaders. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":35208,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[172],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-50121","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"aioseo_notices":[],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50121","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=50121"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50121\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":50122,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50121\/revisions\/50122"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/35208"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=50121"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=50121"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=50121"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}