Top stakeholders in the state, especially those from the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP), have told Governor Udom Emmanuel to put away his larger-than-life Commissioner for Works, Akparawa Ephraim Inyang, or risk losing their support for his Governorship re-election bid in 2019.
According to an impeccable Government House, the stakeholders informed Governor Udom Emmanuel that his Works Commissioner has arrogated excessive powers to himself, and that allowing him to remain in office may cause the Governor more harm than good.
The source said that the stakeholders have on several fora told Mr. Emmanuel that his Works Commissioner does not have respect for elders in the state and senior political chieftains, stressing that spate at which he underrates, insults and treats respected party chieftains with levity is rather worrisome.
“His meddlesome attitude in party affairs, especially in their different Local Government Areas without any iota respect for us or asking for our inputs is not the best for the Governor. The dust raised by Inyang’s doctoring of the recent Transition Committee list is yet to settle,” one of the stakeholders said.
“We have told the Governor in clear terms that Inyang’s overbearing tendencies will cost him his reelection and his government more than he can envisage. We have also told the Governor to strip Ephraim Inyang of some powers or out rightly sack him,” he further stressed.
In a swift reaction, a pro-Ephraim Inyang source hinted that “the idea of the Governor doing away with the Works Commissioner is just a figment of imagination of a few people who are intimidated by the rising profile and political relevance of Mr. Inyang.”
