Akakan Umoh
Akwa Ibom Governor Umo Eno has come under heavy criticism for disdaining his critics, particularly by launching verbal attacks on them.
Eno misfired in launching a defence of his administration over the disputed 76 oil wells dispute between Akwa Ibom and Cross River States, dismissing critics as “empty barrels who make “noise.”
Speaking on Sunday, 1 March, 2026 during the monthly Church service at Government House, Uyo, the Governor said “Stop saying the governor does not pick phones (answer calls). Am I your receptionist?”
“That is even an insult for you to say the governor doesn’t pick phones. Who are you that I should pick your phone? Who is even talking?” Eno added.
Although Mr Eno did not mention any name, the instances cited in his remarks pointed to Senator John James Akpanudoedehe’s recent public statement regarding the 76 oil wells.
On 19 February, Mr Akpanudoedehe, a former senator, had in a viral video, advised the governor against letting the state lose the oil wells, else Akwa Ibom people would not forgive him.
Senator Akpanudoedehe, others React
Reacting to the Governor’s ridicule viewed as veiled attack on him, Senator Akpanudoedehe under the headline: ‘‘I DON’T WANT TO GO TO THE GUTTERS WITH HIM, wrote “There are things to respond to immediately. There are things you are not supposed to respond to. You allow Akwa Ibom people to judge.
“I did not hear him mention my name, but assuming he is referring to my video, I don’t respond to insults. I was advising him. I don’t want to go to the gutters with him.
According to him, “I expected him to say, ‘Senator Udoedehe and other citizens who have shared thoughts on the issue, thank you for your advice. Even myself, I won’t forgive myself if they take even one oil well from the state.’ It is not an insult.”
Related news: I am not Your Receptionist – Gov Eno replies Critic
“What he said shows his level. It is beneath me. I am bigger than that. I wasn’t in any way insulting him. I was advising him because of my vantage position and what I hear.’’
“If he is speaking about me and said those things, it reflects his upbringing and character. I am not in that level. I won’t respond immediately. Once you say something, you think through it,” he added.
Also reacting, Sammy Etuk, a legal practitioner wrote, ‘‘The headline may sound harsh, but it captures a growing concern.
‘‘It is troubling when a representative of the people appears to assume a self-entitled position over the very constituents who voted him into office. Leadership is not about lording over citizens; it is about service.
‘‘It was emphatic when the governor stated publicly that he is not responsible for answering phone calls from constituents because he is not their receptionist. The issue is not whether a governor should personally answer every call. The issue is the tone and message such a statement sends. It creates distance.’’
Etuk who penned this on his social media page stated ‘‘There was also the assertion that citizens cannot call him out over perceived infractions or suspected mistakes. That position is difficult to defend. In any healthy democracy, citizens reserve the right to question leadership decisions. Accountability is not disrespect.
This pattern — where leaders, after elections, gradually withdraw from direct engagement while expecting unquestioned respect — is part of Nigeria’s deeper governance problem.
Another sensitive comment was the suggestion during a church address that those “cashing out” on social media should be limited to a certain age bracket. That view overlooks current realities. Social media has become an economic platform. It has created entrepreneurs, sustained families, and reduced dependence on political patronage. To trivialize that space is to dismiss the livelihood of many people.
At moments like this, caution in speech matters. Statements that may excite applause in the room can generate dissatisfaction outside it.
”Image defenders who rush to attack critics anytime there is a public misstep do more harm than good. Sometimes a comment is simply a slip — and it can be corrected without turning citizens into adversaries.
Respect is earned through openness, not demanded through position.
”Citizens are not enemies. They are stakeholders,’ Etuk pointed out.
Reacting to the Governor’s attack, Solomon Johnny, a journalist wrote on his social media page ‘‘In answering the Question: Who is Senator John Udoedehe as asked very arrogantly and derogatorily by Pastor Umo Eno, we refer His Excellency to read the book by Etim Etime titled: Akwa Ibom Heroes.
‘‘By the time he is done, I am sure Pastor Umo Eno shall agree that Senator John Udoedehe is not his mate Read it too and find out whether you can find Mr Umo Eno in the mix of Akwa Ibomites who ever stood for the State when it mattered most. This is not cho cho cho.
‘‘Imagine who the system damaged Senator Bassey Albert Akpan to give Akwa Ibom State. Just imagine! ‘’
Johnny, who is also a legal practitioner, noted ‘‘Gentlemen, if UDOM Emmanuel did not hijack the PDP and made Eno gubernatorial candidate in 2023, could he have won a House of Assembly ticket ke Nsit Ubium where he comes from? Could he have been able to face Senator Effiong Bob or Onofiok Luke?
‘‘And how did that Udom Emmanuel who imposed him on Akwa Ibom State come to power? He was brought by Chief Godswill Obot Akpabio who was made Governor by the influence, connection and friendship that Sen Akpanudoedehe, the landlord of Uyo had with Olusegun Obasanjo.
‘‘So Pastor Umo Eno yesterday was asking about the enigmatic Senator John Udoedehe who stalled Obong Attah’s succession plan for Akpabio to emerge governor and in the long run, paved the way for him to be governor. Truly, mfon asitak ke idiok ufok. And truly, it is at Ufok mkpokob ke ebod akara Ekpe!.
My happiness is that both Obong Victor Attah who branded Eno and Udom Emmanuel who imposed him on the PDP are collecting wotowoto from the Coffee boy (apologies to Emmanuel Ita Udombon) they made governor.
‘‘Your Excellency, this is not cho cho cho. Reduce Poverty, hunger and unemployment in Akwa Ibom State from 71% with the huge cash you have received to atleast 51% that you took from Udom Emmanuel before you start asking who is Akpanudoedehe as if you were there at Afe Akpan Ekpo when Akwa Ibom State met!
‘‘We shall come back to this discussion that you have started. It’s a good place to start reappraisal of leadership direction in Akwa Ibom State going toward 2027.’’
Emmanuel Ita Udombon, another Facebook user, equally wrote ‘‘It’s vexatious that, in a state with over 7 million intellects, the handlers of the 2023 gubernatorial election felt a political misfit was the best option. When I saw the statement: “He is creating content to make money from Google”, and “Stop saying the governor does not pick phone calls. Am I your receptionist? That is even an insult. Who are you that I should pick your calls? Who is even talking?” credited to the governor and directed as a direct attack on Distinguished Senator John James AkpanUdoedege, I began to wonder who gave the transgenderic occupant of the hilltop mansion such guts.
I mean, for a coffee boy at Mobile, it’s audacious to feel superior to any other Akwa Ibomite. Hmmmmmmm, if the governor can’t remember what Udoedehe brought home as a politician, he should remember that Udoedehe brought the APC, which he is enjoying today. The advice Udoedehe gave was out of love, not hate. In fact, from all indications, the governor is now the one doing content back-to-back.
This matter is a serious one, and the elder statesman’s view should be respected. No tantrums, no behaving like a bush baby; wait till after 2027 when we send you back to Ikot Ekpene Udo, where you can throw tantrums with your village chiefs.
The governor’s office is for intellectuals, not misfits. It’s astonishing that he thinks an elder statesman, a former local government chairman, senator of the Federal Republic, minister of the Federal Republic, and national secretary of the APC, whose party he is currently representing, is a nobody and that he owes Akwa Ibomites nothing, else he couldn’t take their calls. It’s the audacity for me! I was expecting, probably, a call to the distinguished Senator to seek his political opinion and solutions he could proffer, but no, he wants to inherit someone’s enemy and behave as if we don’t know.
Commissioner for Information Responds
Under RIGHT OF REPLY, Aniekan Umanah, the state Commissioner for Information sharply wrote I read with utter dismay the story by Sahara Reporters slugged “Am I Your Receptionist? Why Should I Pick Your Phone Calls All the Time ?”, which attempts, with predictable drama, to portray the Governor of Akwa Ibom State, Pastor Umo Eno, as dismissive and inaccessible.
Writing under the headline: WHEN HUMOUR BECOMES “HEADLINE”: A GOVERNOR, A JOKE, AND THE PATH OF DISTORTION, Umanah cannily put it ‘‘But let us ask: When did laughter become hostility? When did wit become warfare? When did a joke at an enlightened Covenant Service become a crisis?
I was physically present at the Monthly Covenant Service held at the Banquet Hall of Government House, Uyo, on March 1, 2026, when the remarks in question were made. The setting was solemn yet joyful, reverent yet relaxed. The Governor was thanking the people for their overwhelming goodwill messages, prayers, and countless calls. In the same breath, he acknowledged the simple human limitation that one man cannot personally answer every single phone call directed at him daily.
”In encouraging citizens to channel some concerns through Commissioners, Special Advisers, aides, and officials who work round the clock, he was explaining governance , not evading it.
”Then came the moment now inflated into controversy. With a smile, in a tone so light it lifted the hall into laughter, he quipped: “You don’t have to wait until I personally take your calls ,there are many channels… Or am I your receptionist?” It was humour , pure and simple. The hall laughed heartily. The mood remained warm. No outrage. No offense. No “attack.” Until, of course, the Sahara winds began to blow.
Clearly, Sahara Reporters does not know this Governor. If they did, they would know that Pastor Umo Eno is the very epitome of humility, calm, and candour. They would know that he wears his pastoral badge with honour. They would know he is a man of wit who wears words like ornaments , polished, expressive, and often playfully rhetorical. His humour is not arrogance; it is humanity.
”Pastor Eno is a Governor who is human and kind , sometimes, one might say, kind to a fault. He attends to people of all classes without discrimination: the powerful and the powerless, the titled and the unknown, the urban elite and the rural farmer. His governance demonstrates compassion for the most vulnerable. Many have benefited from the 335 fully furnished homes he has built and donated to the disadvantaged out of the 500 units planned in his first term. . Many more are among the 600,000 households he has provided with free food. He has also settled a backlog of gratuities, paying N80 billion of the N111 billion owed to workers and donated free 150 homes to civil servants.
”This is the same Governor who, for the first time, gave equal opportunity to 4,000 persons to be recruited into the Civil Service, ensuring fairness, meritocracy, and inclusion. His accessibility is not measured by how many personal calls he answers, but by how responsive, caring, and open his government remains.
To extract a playful aside from a broader message of gratitude and structured governance, and then stretch it into a narrative of hostility, is less journalism and more desert fiction.
Governor Umo Eno remains steadfast in his commitment to people-centred governance , accessible, organised, and accountable. No headline, however dramatic, can erase the lived reality of a leader whose humility, compassion, and humanity are evident to all who truly know him.’’
