Udom, Ita Enang At War Again
3 min read
Akwa Ibom State governor, Udom Emmanuel and the special adviser to the president on Niger Delta, Senator Ita Enang are quarrelling openly again, this time in respect of the location of the proposed federal university of technology.
While Enang opts for Ikot Abasi, Udom is believed to have favoured his own Onna Local Government and is not happy with Enang for working against his dream of having the school in his local government.
The issue is generating bad blood between the two political leaders. On Saturday, Enang was in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State where he chastised Udom for allegedly writing to the federal government, asking that the school be located in Onna.
At the press conference in Uyo, Enang had said “the governor has written formally for the University to be sited in his local government of Onna. I’ve considered his action as improper, imprudent and not acting as governor of Akwa Ibom State. The governor is acting in a manner that could be described as Udomcentric, Onnacentric, IMM, (I, Me and Myself) he was chosen to be the governor of the entire Akwa Ibom people and not the chairman of Onna local government or councillor representing his ward.
“Onna has the University teaching hospital, Onna has the flour mill, Onna has the plywood mill, Onna has syringe factory, every good road is made in Onna, Onna has the biggest private estate owned by one person. How?
“Every person who is in any position of responsibility should know that he is in that position as a trustee of the people, and there is a terminal date and when you come out if you don’t face the consequences of your inaction while in office, you will face it after and you will not be able to correct it.
“I pray His Excellency, Gov. Udom Emmanuel not to press and push for the Federal University to be kept in Onna, he should support that it goes to Ikot Abasi and be part of the success of that institution. He doesn’t know how this started from 2017, 2018, 2019, and how I struggled for it, now it has come; in the wisdom of spreading, let us work together to make that University a success.” But on Monday, Udom replied Enang through his commissioner for education, Mrs Idongesit Etiebet. The governor however did not deny or confirm his decision to get the school sited in his local government.
In the statement, the commissioner said “the demand and eventual approval of the Federal University was a transaction strictly between the State and federal governments. This transaction had and still has no input or contribution of the attention seeking senator(Enang).
“The State Government had advised that the Federal University of Technology be sited in Eket Senatorial District. The decision by the State Government to site the new federal tertiary institution in Eket Senatorial District was informed by the presence of federal tertiary institutions in Uyo and Ikot Ekpene Senatorial Districts( University of Uyo and Federal Polytechnic, Ukana).
“ It is on record that Senator Ita Enang has always wanted to drag every possible project to his village in Ididep. Therefore his veiled support for Ikot Abasi is very mischievous and deceptive. We urge the public to discountenance the ranting of the controversial Senator and to know that the new tertiary institution will be sited at the best location in Eket Senatorial District.”
