Governor Godswill Akpabio of Akwa Ibom State has dissociated himself from the current moves by the Adamawa State House of Assembly to impeach Governor Muritala Nyako, advising those linking him to the plot to look elsewhere for whom they want to blackmail through falsehood.

In a press statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Pastor Anietie Ukpe, the governor said: “We read with shock and dismay a strange report in the Saturday Newswatch of June 21, 2014 in which the writer mischievously insinuated that the members of the Adamawa House of Assembly were acting a script written by the Executive Governor of Akwa Ibom State, Chief Godswill Obot Akpabio, in the impeachment imbroglio between the Adamawa House of Assembly and the Adamawa Governor, Governor Muritala Nyako.

“It does appear that the penchant by some sections of the press to attribute every incident from the eclipse of the sun to their wives’ miscarriages to the Akwa Ibom State Governor has been taken to new heights of absurdity by the attribution to Governor Akpabio of such an action plotting the ouster of a man he has no quarrel of any kind with.”

Pastor Ukpe said that “for the avoidance of doubt, Governor Akpabio has never sought the downfall of anyone and has always circumscribed his actions and utterances within the realms of decorum and principles. His principled position on issues has made him a moral giant and it is unthinkable that a journalist in an attempt to do the bidding of his paymasters would make such a false and wild accusation of a man like Akpabio whose statesmanlike conduct is public knowledge and a moral example.”

Akpabio, the statement added, “has no motive or reason to be involved in what is happening in the Adamawa State House of Assembly, particularly the events related to the attempt to impeach Governor Muritala Nyako . . . the allegation is completely baseless, malicious and intended to tarnish the image of Governor Akpabio, and that of his government. It is preposterous for an impeachment move by a well-constituted House of Assembly to be linked to another governor. This accusation only exists in the mind of the writer and his paymasters and is a sad commentary on the writer’s ability to write intellectual political analyses devoid of bias, falsehood and mischief.”

Pastor Ukpe declared that “Governor Akpabio is too busy with the uncommon transformation of Akwa Ibom State to bother himself with political developments in other states, particularly issues which bother on the actions of their elected representatives.”

He called on the public “to disregard this malicious propaganda and yellow journalism as it was apparently intended to cause a friction between the governor of Akwa Ibom State and the governor of Adamawa State, and sow bad blood between indigenes of the two states.”

The statement made it clear that “Governor Akpabio has repeatedly maintained, and one wishes to re-emphasise it here, that he will never interfere in the affairs and running of a state outside Akwa Ibom.”