Rejoinder: On Emmanuel Sam’s baseless criticisms, misrepresentations

By Emmanuel Nicholas

Emmanuel Sam, your recent preoccupation with hollow criticism has become more spectacle than substance.

Time and again, you reveal a rudimentary grasp of governance and public administration, substituting provocation for careful analysis and leaving many of us to wonder whether you have surrendered the faculty of clear comprehension to a fog of misinformation.

You have consistently subjected both your own reputation and that of The Guide Newspapers to unnecessary disrepute through the sensational, attention-seeking reports you concoct.

I’m well aware of your transactional approach to journalism; nevertheless, the present administration will not indulge crude tactics designed to harvest headlines or funds.

To be clear: Governor Umo Eno, PhD, did not declare an intention to sell the State’s aircraft.

What he pledged was the commercialization of that asset for public use, a practical arrangement under which the aircraft remains available to the state when required and may be hired out for public charters when not in official use.

When the aircraft is unavailable, the Governor has access to IbomAir or any other commercial aircraft. This is not an inconsistency; it is prudent asset management.

This policy has long been in practice. The Governor frequently travels with IbomAir when the state aircraft is engaged by the public.

He is under no obligation to document every departure with photographs simply to satisfy your appetite for proof.

Such demands betray an inability to distinguish genuine public service from manufactured controversy.

Let us also correct a broader misconception: more than twenty Nigerian states maintain official aircraft, some with two or three, not as symbols of luxury, but as instruments of contingency.

They address urgent operational needs, facilitate rapid response to emergencies, and enable the executive to meet demanding travel schedules that commercial airlines cannot reliably accommodate.

When Senator Godswill Akpabio procured an aircraft for Akwa Ibom, it was a response to real logistical frustrations: missed engagements, interminable waits at airports, and lost opportunities for investments and partnerships that would have benefited the state.

Owning a state aircraft is therefore a practical necessity, not an indulgence. The Governor’s itinerary frequently requires attendance at time-critical meetings across Nigeria and abroad; reliance on scheduled commercial flights alone would impede his ability to secure tangible benefits for Akwa Ibom.

Your insinuation that the Governor’s use of IbomAir was motivated by your write-up I’m Guide Newspapers shows your childishness.

Such conjecture reads like rumour rather than reporting and suggests impaired judgment.

If nothing else, a measure of self-reflection and a return to fact-based commentary would serve you and your readers well. Persisting in groundless attacks only diminishes your credibility.

Governor Umo Eno has responsibly commercialized the state aircraft while retaining its availability for official contingencies.

The exigencies of the executive office demand flexibility and rapidity that public flight schedules cannot always provide. That is a reality you would do well to acknowledge. End of story.

Finally, the people of Akwa Ibom elected Governor Umo Eno to deliver results, not to be mired in manufactured scandals.

Governor Umo Eno will continue to prioritize effective governance, responsive public services, and prudent management of state assets.

For those genuinely interested in the welfare of the state, there is ample work to be done; for those seeking headlines at any cost, the record will speak for itself.

Continued reliance on innuendo and hearsay will leave you exposed to appropriate corrective measures under the law and further damage to your standing as a publisher.

I am aware that you have been sponsored to denounce and disparage every commendable initiative of Governor Umo Eno’s administration; yet as a paid mouthpiece, you will inevitably be exploited and then cast aside, for no one who elects to serve as the emissary of wickedness escapes the tempest that wickedness ultimately turns upon its own agents, and the day of reckoning for such complicity is but a doorstep away.

Consider the analogy: the person who supplies the bullet to the shooter may evade the immediate blast, but the shooter alone endures the trauma of pulling the trigger, and should the projectile recoil or the scheme backfire, it is the shooter who ultimately sacrifices himself; learn this lesson before you are consumed by the very force you have agreed to promote.