From Joe Effiong, Uyo
Akwa Ibom Government has refuted allegation of sponsoring violent protest as claimed by the state chapter of the Young Progressives Party (YPP), saying such had not been the trait in the past seven and a half years of present administration.
The government was reacting to allegations by YPP Campaign Council Chairman, Emem Akpabio, of an impending attack against the YPP by the state government.
But in a statement by Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Ini Ememobong, yesterday, the state government compared such alarm by YPP “to a murderer who is always afraid of someone walking behind him with a machete.”
The government recalled that it had, in its earlier statement, hinted Akwa Ibom citizens of a planned unrest by politicians from opposition parties, without mentioning any of them.
It, therefore, expressed shock that the YPP would, without any mention, jump on the issue. We had hinted that the planned unrest was sponsored by politicians from opposition parties, without mentioning any of them. But as usual, the guilty are always afraid. This attitude of self-identification is not strange.
“We recall that in 2019, when the state government criminalised cultism, their candidate, without any direct accusation, took it personal and went on to admit to being a cultist. This attitude of theirs is consistent with the age long African maxims that ‘old women are uncomfortable when dry bones are mentioned’ and ‘a murderer is always afraid of someone walking behind him with a machete’.”