The departure of Senator Godswill Akpabio from Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, seen as the arrowhead of the party’s fortune, has caused panic both at the state and the national levels.
At the state level, Governor Udom Emmanuel is desperately working hard to reposition the party ahead of his re-election bid in the 2019 general elections, Straightnews investigation shows.
As a step, the governor is bowing to outside pressures to rejig his media team in the face of media assaults by the opposition All Progressives Congress, APC, in the state against his administration.
Consequently, Emmanuel is set up Image and Strategy Team and appoint Senator Anietie Okon to head it to manage his media profile.
An insider in Government House, Uyo, who did not want his name in print, attributed this to what he called ‘’following the recent damaging fall-out from several blunders by his media handlers, the Akwa Ibom Governor Udom Emmanuel has decided to take the bull by the horn and has decided to fall back on the Senator.’’
Okon was the Youth Leader of the defunct National Party of Nigeria, NPN, in the then Cross River State and a Senator who represented Uyo Senatorial District in the National Assembly.
At the inception of PDP in 1998 (20 years) ago, Senator Okon was the National Publicity Secretary that got the party victory at the national level.
However, Ekerete Udoh, the Senior Special Assistant/Chief Press Secretary to the state Governor in a telephone interview with Straightnews reporter Tuedsay denied knowledge of the appointment.
Recall that the media handlers that packaged Udom in 2014 were discarded after they had helped to rescue him from being a political non-starter and elevated him to the pinnacle of the man to beat at the party primaries.
At that time, Udom was said to be “too heavy to carry” and the Akpabio-Uwanta machinery called Akwa Ibom Consolidation Alliance, ACA, that handled his image laundering was disbanded after his election.
