Ini Ememobong, Before You Write Another Press Statement
By UbongAbasi Ise
"A dancer doesn't know his back is at awkward position" - Annang Proverbs
"A dancer doesn't know his back is at awkward position" - Annang Proverbs
Comrade Ini Ememobong, the PDP publicity secretary in Akwa Ibom State, is one promising politician with youth, glamour and pizzazz whom I naturally have fair admiration for. Recently, he won my heart when he donated plots of land in Uyo to about 10 young media practitioners who probably aided him fulfill his job's expectations during last electioneering campaign. As one may know, his office is not the type to receive any allocation from the state's budget, neither is he occupying a decision-making position in his political party, but he was generous enough to sacrifice his personal resources to demonstrate gratitude and to significantly encourage the media gentlemen to begin steps to a settled life. This shows that if he gets an opportunity to move up the higher rung of the ladder, he might profoundly epitomize selfless leadership that has fast become a rarity in our clime.
The above paragraph should not mislead anyone into thinking that I am writing a love letter. I pen this down to point out to Ememobong the rotten, grungy aspect of his job performance. I'm surprised that his friends and acolytes are not bold or sincere enough to hint him that his press statements are often received with mockery and jeers by the reading public. Besides the verbose, comic and vindictive nature, statements emanating from this PDP spokesperson mostly tend to make work difficult for pressmen especially when they attempt to quote him verbatim. Media houses raring to adhere to the ethics of the profession, would not love to quote abusive, offensive and excessively foul content of Ini Ememobong's statements in their publication because doing so would tantamount to violating the decency article of NUJ Code of Ethics as declared in Ilorin in March 1998. More often than not, bulk of Ememobong's statements are better discarded by the press or they paraphrased to keep in line with the media professional ethics. I heard that the Nigerian Institute of Public Relations, Akwa Ibom State Branch honoured Ini with the Man of the year 2019 award. Nonetheless, he still needs help in matters of public relations as far as his job as a chapter publicity secretary of a party is concerned. He should be advised on how to make a statement for the media, but if he intends to show off his vocabulary prowess, then he should put them forward as feature articles and then incorporate all the expletives he could ever think of to bury Godswill Akpabio and his APC in entirety. Most of his text of press briefing could better be appreciated in form of advertorial. But as source from which news items would be derived, Ini should better keep them simple and straight to the point so as to convey the right and unambiguous message. If he really wants to abuse, then he could do so by compressing all the vile terms he could ever known in English, Latin and Greek into one or two paragraphs, and then allow the important message to flow in a plain, simple form.
PDP is the ruling party as far as Akwa Ibom State is concerned, and it is normal, as a mainstream party, to be reactionary to the activities of the opposition. But its reactions ought to be formal, terse and stabilizing in nature. As handler of government in the state presently, it is expected of PDP to address emerging issues with decency, tact and with official sense of responsibility in order to prevent the state under its leadership from going in flames. But when Ini goes berserk, rants, and spew venom like uncivilized market woman against a section of the citizenry of the very state his party is controlling, one wonder whether the PDP is an opposition party. To be very frank, it is natural for the opposition party craving for power to devise radical methods to gain attention or play a spoilsport role in the polity just to score some political goals, but a mainstream party that is in control ought not to tow such line other than exhibiting matured and avuncular character towards all subjects of the state. Ini Ememobong, perhaps, doesn’t know that his vulgar harangues mostly portray his party as ragtag band of feral drunkards that could only induce pandemonium and throw the state into a madcap situation. The irresponsible attitude displayed by the ruling PDP in the state as evidenced in Ememobong’s utterances explains why the state is thrown into Babel of controversies almost every time. It also explains why the mass of citizenry is bifurcated with one section treated like lepers because of the sin that they are not PDP members.
The text of Ini Ememobong’s press conference on Friday 13th December, 2019 was as sociopathic as usual. The first paragraph begins, “Some days ago, our party, like other members of the reading public, saw a letter infixed in the headed paper of Senator Godswill Akpabio attempting to convey the purported withdrawal of the Senatorial candidate of the All Progressives Congress candidate in Ikot Ekpene Senatorial District. Due to the cunning and comical nature of the dramatis persona, we had to wait for a reasonable time to be sure that he will not make his habitual volte face and claim that he didn’t write the letter or it was one of the skits in his newfound hobby of national comedy. Having not had any rebuttal either from him, his official media sources or his litany of online guttersnipes, we can now ascertain that the said letter emanated from the once revered former Governor, then-seemingly invincible Senate Minority Leader, recently defeated former Senator and now compensated and controversial Minister.” Ememobong’s tirades continue to flow well into the four remaining paragraphs merely to vent his infuriation over Akpabio’s withdrawal from the rerun of Akwa Ibom Northwest senatorial district election slated for January 25, 2020. To him, Akpabio has no reason not to participate in the electoral exercise for 'confirmatoy defeat'. But he failed to acknowledge the fact that Senator Akpabio’s camp was unequivocal in calling for the removal of Mike Igini as the Akwa Ibom State Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) before the rerun. Why was it so?
Few evidences could suffice here to show that Akpabio was not wrong after all in snubbing Igini’s system. On Sunday 19th May, 2019, Mike Igini in an interview said, “When l arrived Akwa Ibom, a very controversial politician made a false claim against me, that I was deployed by the APC to come and dethrone the PDP in Akwa Ibom, but after August 2018, following this up and down gale of defections, the same individual, now in the APC, lied to them again that l am against the party. Suddenly, these members were all over the place shouting that I was against them and in support of the PDP. They insisted I must go to pave the way for their own kind of REC. If the Commission had acted the way they changed heads of key security agencies at will based on the political interests and dictation of politicians, INEC would have had up to seven RECs before the 2019 elections.”
With the above statement, Igini had proven his biased against this APC’s ‘controversial politician’ and by so doing no clean water could come out from a dirty bottle. He had unwittingly given a clear reason that makes him dislikes this very ‘controversial politician’ who he alleged made false claims against his hard-earned integrity. It might therefore be interpreted that Igini is pursuing a vendetta by punishing and failing this ‘controversial politician’ who defected in August 2018 from PDP to APC just for the hell of being controversial. As an umpire, the act of openly expressing disapproval over a candidate who participates in a contest you officiate shows prejudice and likelihood that you would thwart his chances of winning no matter how hard he tries.
On Friday May 3rd 2019, Igini brought unprecedented ridicule upon Akwa Ibom APC by saying that their candidates were only going to the tribunal to be constantly talked about in the press in order to be considered for federal appointments since they know that they have no sincere reasons to contest the results of the last general elections. Again, Igini-controlled INEC press statement through its spokesperson, Don Etukudoh, shortly after Appeal court ruling on Akwa Ibom Northwest senatorial district election on November 9, 2019, expressed a clear prejudice against Senator Godswill Akpabio, accusing him of sponsoring violence in Essien Udim in the last general elections. With these instances, and with our conscience intact without minding political affiliation, could a right-thinking man in Akpabio’s shoes go ahead to contest in Igini’s system? Of course that could be the height of inanity.
What Ini Ememobong should know is that the rerun in Essien Udim with Mike Igini on the saddle was a trap set on all directions for Senator Akpabio. The Minister of the Niger-Delta Affairs is too smart to fall cheaply into such ditch. So Ini Ememobong, before you bite off Akpabio’s finger, know that that very finger fed you till you become table-size in politics. I’m not asking you not to do your job with overzealousness just for your followers to clap, but remember yesteryears before you write another press statement; and also know that a river that forgets its source would soon dry out sooner or later.
Yes! I am UbongAbasi Ise, for comments, send SMS to 08189914609 | email: ubongabasiise@gmail.com
©The Sensor Newspaper
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