Posted by The allegations that Governor Udom Emmanuel ordered that Senator Akpabio’s wife, Unoma, not be allowed entry into the government house have been circulating on social media. Reverend Richard Peters, the governor’s media assistant, has called these claims cheap blackmail and peddlers’ attempts to gain attention.
In a post on his Facebook wall, Ata Ikiddeh, a former aide to previous governor Godswill Akpabio, alleged that Governor Emmanuel had ordered Mrs. Unoma Akpabio to be denied entry to the Government House in Uyo.
He claimed that Mrs. Akpabio was delivering a letter from President Muhammadu Buhari to Governor Emmanuel when the event occurred.
According to him, the letter was given to the governor by the president to inform him of the governor’s (Buhari’s) decisions about police reforms and other requests made by Nigerian youths during the EndSARS rallies. He also said that a similar letter had been delivered to other governors.
Ikiddeh’s belated outburst, according to Udom’s media assistant Peters, was “simply to seek attention and notoriety after years of being politically irrelevant,” he claimed in a press conference on Monday.
“This is absurd. The article is false because the Udom Emmanuel we all know would never go to that level.
Gov. Emmanuel is not a malicious person. Everybody can depend on him. For instance, Gov. Emmanuel of the PDP and Umana O Umana of the opposition APC have cordial connections. Unoma Akpabio would not have been an aberration, as there are others from the opposition APC who do that when they visit the governor’s mansion.
The Media Aide pointed out that Akpabio, who was the minister of Niger Delta Affairs at the time, was supposed to deliver the letter to Governor Emmanuel personally, but he instead gave the task to his wife in an effort to treat the governor with contempt.
Additionally, the ministers were supposed to present the aforementioned letter to their respective governors and discuss how to deal with the country’s current security crisis. Every other preacher presented their own sermon. Even Rotimi Amaechi delivered his at the Rivers State government building. That alone demonstrates respect for the governor’s office. Akpabio defied the president’s orders by sending his wife, who was not a minister. But today’s discussion is not about that.
“It is worthy of note that Akpabio chose to send his wife simply to ridicule Gov. Udom Emmanuel. He deliberately did that in an attempt to humiliate the governor, perhaps to send a clear message that Gov. Emmanuel does not deserve to sit with him. Every right-thinking individual who was in Gov. Emmanuel’s shoes would have avoided such a meeting.
“Gov. Emmanuel did not in any way treat Unoma Akpabio disdainfully as painted by Akpabio’s aide. He is not that type. He does not play politics with relationships, and would not have started then. The governor was open for talks on how to end the Endsars protest which was an issue of concern at that time.” Peters added.