Posted by To the government of Akwa Ibom State, claims that former governor Udom Emmanuel is still in possession of the governor’s official jet are nothing more than “beer parlour” chatter.
The media has been rife with reports that Udom Emmanuel refused to let Akwa Ibom State’s current governor, Pastor Umo Eno, use the state-owned commercial jet Ibom Air to fly to an out-of-state official engagement.
Speaking on a radio show in Uyo on Friday, Mr. Ndueso Ekwere, the governor’s senior special adviser on research and documentation, said that Governor Umo Eno had flown on a commercial aircraft so that he could gain first-hand experience with the state’s airline.
He added that Governor Eno, in his official capacity as Governor of the State, took advantage of his opportunity to fly on Ibom Air to relay the experiences of other passengers, and he wondered why some people would rather misinterpret that action “with unsubstantiated claims.”
He claims that the governor promised he would fly Ibom Air on occasion so that he could experience the airline as a customer. He promised that, as governor, he would not be content to sit in his office and wait for reports from the field but would instead travel to see for himself the state of affairs with regard to publicly funded investments and utilities. The governor had good intentions, but why some people chose to misinterpret them is a mystery to me.
He wants to set a good example for his followers, so even at the airport he submits to a full body scanner and other inspections. Don’t take it the wrong way; he’s just showing love for the people who support him.
He said that even though Mr. Emmanuel is the immediate past Governor and the current Governor’s former boss, he has shown no signs of being imperious to his successor and even came to declare during the state dialogue that there can only be one leader in the state at any given time, and that leader is Governor Eno.