2015: We need a Level Playing Field, the Gov should not Threaten or intimidate Aspirants– Umana Umana

2015: We need a Level Playing Field, the Gov should not Threaten or intimidate Aspirants– Umana Umana

“If the governor juggles in the political turf as an aspirant,  fellow aspirants might be tempted to throw mud at him and it is not good for mud to be thrown at the governor as his office is an exalted office.  The governor should not campaign in the churches for one person…”   

Umana Okon Umana, former SSG, AK                

One of the strong contenders of the 2015 governorship race in Akwa Ibom State and a former secretary to the Government of Akwa Ibom State, Mr Umana Okon Umana has urged the state governor to desist from intimidating, threatening other aspirants and campaigning in churches for his current SSG as it was not fair for the governor who should play the role of a father in the 2015 race to do so.

Obong Umana also appealed to the governor to stop parading himself in the garb of an aspirants and to avoid mudslinging as his presence in the political turf of 2015 could mislead aspirants to consider him as an aspirant and as such could be tempted to throw mud at him, in the believe that they are doing so to one of  them(aspirants), oblivious of the fact such is done to the governor, urging that the office of the governor was so venerable to be dragged into mud.

Mr Umana said during the time of governor Attah, Chief Godswill Akpabio sought to be governor and as a commissioner (then), governor Attah never censored him or threatened other commissioners not to relate with and support him, even though the governor was not supporting his  aspiration.  He recalled that governor Attah never campaigned in churches and other public places for his preferred aspirant and never reprimanded persons in his cabinet who supported Chief Akpabio, adding that Chief Akpabio’s style was not encouraging.

In a media interaction in his private residence in Ewet Housing last week, Obong Umana described the idea of a promise by governor Akpabio to hand over the mantle of leadership of the state to him in 2015 as a purely “academic exercise”, saying that whatever promises were made in the past did not matter to him as he was already in the race of 2015 governorship. “Whether the governor offered to support me in the past or not does not matter, what matters is that I am in the race because I believe I have something to offer to better the lots of the people”, he said.

On whether he resigned his appointment or was pushed out of office, he stated that any position one accepts to serve is at the pleasure of the governor.   He stated that as a position of service taken on appointment, the occupant of the office has the right to resign when he feels he should do so and the governor can also ask you to disengage when he feels that you should no longer continue with him. “ I believe that based on my letter of disengagement, if we have to go by that, the governor thanked me for my contributions to the development of the state and wished me well”, he said. 

He stated further that “may be the manner of disengagement was not tidy” as he was outside the state when the event took place.  Umana told Journalists that may be there were Policemen and officers of the DSS, but that he heard and saw it all on AIT, Channels and NTA, adding that what happened could not have been speculations.

Mr Umana stated that since he was not around he could not have known who led the operation of sealing his office but that he was told it was the governor’s wife that led the operation, expressing surprise for such drama about what he considered a routine exercise, saying it was “unnecessary and an exercise taken too far”.

On why he wanted to be governor he said he would have time to clearly address the salient issues, but assured that having been with the administration as the Finance Commissioner and later Secretary to the State Government, he was aware of the “soft issues of development like health, education and security  in addition to the expansion of core infrastructure - road network, sea port, power, science and technology. Outside a robust industrialization programme we have to pay a special attention to the development of agriculture because this will create jobs and raise the standard of living of our people”.

When asked whether the letter to the National Human Rights Commission against the governor  emanated from him he did not deny it, but said it was not about him alone but about all the persons whose lives were at risk and recounted a threat letter sent to him and the withdrawal of his police security on the orders of the governor as pointing to issues that needed to be investigated, and said that did not amount to asking for too much.

“In December, I received a threat letter, a copy of which I had submitted to the police. I was asked to withdraw from the governorship race, or they will get me in Akwa Ibom, Lagos or Abuja. I did not pay too much attention to it because I had Police protection. I was in Abuja when I got the reports that my security details had been withdrawn. It came as a surprise; a curious coincidence, that just a few days after I received that threat my security details were withdrawn and I was told that the order came from the governor. That gives us cause for concern”, Mr Umana stated.

Speaking on his relationship with the present SSG, Mr Umana said his relationship with Mr Udom Emmanuel “is very cordial” describing  him as a “fine gentleman” whose swearing-in ceremony he attended and wished him well.  He said the office was for one to make his contributions and moved on just as the office of the governor, it has expiry date.

He neither denied nor owned up being involved in assassination plots while in government but said it was not part of his “mandate” as the SSG, stating that the buck stops at the table of the governor as the chief security officer who holds the red pen and approves everything, hence he takes credit and blame for whatever was done rightly or wrongly by his administration. Hear him, “If you go and look at the ministerial responsibilities of the office of the SSG, I don’t think you will find any item on how to advice on killings, assassination or murder. It wasn’t part of my mandate so I only operated and acted within the mandate of my office. Let me also point out that it is the governor who is the Chief Security Officer. All the security Chiefs report to the governor and it is the governor who is vested with the powers to run the state constitutionally, so the buck stops on his table. He must accept responsibility for the successes and failures of his administration”.

He said the governor as a leader is bound to take responsibility for all actions of his government, as he alone has the power to hire and fire at will, describing as ridiculous the rumour at that time that he was the one recommending people to be removed from office and brought onboard the state executive council, and wondered if he could have put a short gun on the governor’s head to hire and fire.   

Asked to comment on his plan B if the PDP denies him ticket at the primaries he said he has no plan B as he was sure that the massive support he was enjoying from the state will earn him the ticket at the primaries, just as he debunked the claims that he and others were in strong alliance against government interest.  He wondered why government should have special interest in who aspires to the office of the governor.  He recalled that governor Akpabio contested against 57 other persons in 2007and was not barred by governor Attah from interacting with others, nor was the State Chairman of PDP then(Arc. Otu  Ita Toyo) intimidated not to pick calls of other aspirants.  He appealed to the governor to stay neutral on the matter of who emerges his successor in 2015  and allow a level playing field for all aspirants to campaign for support across the state.

Speaking about his opinion on zoning Mr  Umana said “the governor himself in the past had dismissed zoning. He did that on National Television when the Minister of Information held the Town hall meeting in Uyo during the Good Governance tour. When the question was put to him about zoning, Governor Akpabio said he was not a product of zoning; that in 2006 there were 58 contestants from all the senatorial districts. Then, the party did not bar anybody so there were aspirants from all the three senatorial districts. That was in 2006. Again in 2011, we had Frank Okon from Eket Senatorial District; we had Imo Udoh from Uyo Senatorial District… it shows the level of insincerity and absurdity and the fact that until I left office, the issue of zoning did not arise. Again you ask, what a curious coincidence that the whole zoning idea came up only after I left office. Why? It is for you to find out”.  

Mr Umana decribed the town hall meetings as “predetermined” since the intention of the whole exercise was replaced with the presentation of government candidate for 2015 and adumberation of the story of zoning.

“The meetings were stage-managed to ensure that the position of governor was zoned to one particular person and yet we went through the pains and the expenditure of the town hall meetings, whereas the outcome was already pre-determined…There was nowhere in the advertorial published by the ministry of information preceding the town hall meeting where it was stated that there was going to be a referendum on zoning or on the selection of a governor for the state before the primaries and general elections”, he said.

Mr Umana believed that what the town hall meeting would have done for the people was abdicated.  He querried why the revenues of government were not made public as it was the place of the citizens to be told what the state realized and how it was spent for any period.  He said during the time of Governor Attah such information was made public on quarterly basis for the consumption of the public.

“Even when some people alleged that Akwa Ibom has  received over two trillion Naira and that the performance of government was not commensurate with the level of resources, the Ministry of Finance or the Ministry of Information has still not provided a detailed revenue and expenditure report whereas transparency is a core requirement of good governance. We expected them the following day to publish everything to say this is what we have received so far; from statutory allocation, derivation, special releases from the excess crude accounts, from the Paris Club reconciliations, from all the recoveries from under-payments, reimbursements and recoveries after the return of oil wells, then they would tell us in total, this was what we received.  This is not asking too much of any government, because transparency is part of good governance. But until the town hall meetings ended, there was no such report…For performance to be properly assessed; it must be benchmarked against the quantum of resources. The Hon Minister of Finance made the same point recently. I was the commissioner for Finance during the administration of Obong Victor Attah and we had quarterly publications on the revenue and expenditure profile of the state. And it was for public consumption; you could walk into the ministry and pick it up.  Until the town hall meetings ended they were not able to provide the information. Even as we speak, they have not provided the information. There was also a question on the debt profile of the state but have we had any answer?”, the former SSG querried.

            

He thanked the media in the state for living up to its billing and promised to make public his blue print for the people of Akwa Ibom state at the appropriate time.