The Special Adviser To He Governor Bassey Otu, Mr. Godwin Akpama Should Work Within The Tenets Of His Office
We have watched with keen interest how ths Special Adviser to Governor Bassey Otu of Cross River State, Mr. Godwin Akpama, has been conducting affairs and developments in his office since he was appointed.
His actions and inactions are suggestive of the fact that Mr Akpama does not quite understand his duties and responsibilities as he seems to be still basking in the euphoria of his office.
Or simply put, he seems not to be in tune with the demands of office. Or perhaps, he sees himself as the first among equals as he goes about his duties with much arrogance to depict he is above even the man who appointed him.
Therefore, one would want to ask if he was not handed over terms of reference so that he knows his bounds while carrying out his intelligence work. It needs be pointed out here that the Office of Special Adviser to the Governor on Intelligence demands enough capacity, knowledge of local security and huge responsibility from the occupier of such exalted post.
In other words, the occupant should be a person that posseses some modicum of integrity, respect and security training to be able to engage in such a huge task of intelligence gathering and passing it across to appropriate quarters for processing and necessary action.
But from all intents and purposes, Mr. Godwin Akpama, the Special Adviser on Intelligence is not only a misfit, but a square peg in a round hole. Akpama knows next to nothing with regard to intelligence gathering. He lacks the common intelligence on how to handle and process information for the benefit of his principal who needs it to tackle some security challenges in the state.
Rather, Mr. Godwin Akpama sees the office as an avenue to witchhaunt his political colleagues, perceived opponents, especially those from his constituency, blackmail and extort money from his fellow appointees who run into trouble waters.
He further sees the position as avenue to seek gratifications from the highly placed individuals in the society under the pretence of covering them up in the so-called reports he claims to write to the Governor.
Besides, Akpama has engaged in so much name dropping in almost all the intelligence he goes about gathering that people begin to wonder what manner of SA he is. At Evey opportunity he has, he drops His Excellency’s name and uses it to his greatest advantage.
Evidence abound during the last local government elections in which Akpama went about collecting money from aspirants in the guise of writing positive intelligence reports on them to the Governor. He told some of them that ‘Oga’ has directed him to do so and a few gullible ones fell for it and only later discovered that they were scammed as HE never gave such directive.
Again, Mr. Godwin Akpama goes about obtaining documents from ministries, agencies and department regarding their financial transactions or contracts awarded and use it against those involved in such transactions in the guise of the Governor sent him. Sometimes, some fall into his trap and they settle him while a few tell him off. And once you tell him off, blackmail starts and he leaks the information to gullible members of the public and to his allies in the media to start a media war against you and your office.
Akpama goes beyond some government ministries or departments to even some corporate bodies doing business in Cross River. A case in point is his alleged involvement with the Chinese people operating at Okuni in Ikom local government area.
Some of the community leaders have accused Akpama of collaborating with the Chinese nationals and their lawyer to fight the community. They even alleged that Akpama collected huge sum of money running into millions of Naira and wrote some damming report against them. Today, the Chinese have become Akpama’s ally in prosecuting any local who raises a voice against his (Akpama) pay masters.
Akpama’s latest antics is his direct involvement in the Ugep generators brouhaha. He has told those who cared to listen that His Excellency has mandated him to carry out a thorough investigations on the sell of the generating set even when the business was transacted before he was even appointed.
Akpama goes about it with so much impunity and seems to have declared personal war against some top government officials. From Akpama’s narratives, he has already found some of them guilty as charged and has embarked on his usal blackmail and extortion of money from some people allegedly involved in one way or the other.
Rather than investigate and report to his principal, as he made us to understand, Akpama has become an interested party; he has become an Ombudsman of sort and he has taken over the whole matter and almost at the point of “prosecuting those he has found guilty before his illegal court.”
In other words, Akpama has refused to submit his findings, with regard to the Ugep generator to his principal, Governor Bassey Otu. He has taken it upon himself to harass and blackmail top government officials who are connected with the generators matter even when government sources have revealed that there is nothing untidy about the generator dealings.
It was also learnt that even as government and police detectives have wade into the matter and found out that those allegedly fingered have been exonerated, Akpama is still bent on fighting and claiming he wants to expose corruption in high places. He has been of recent making a mountain of a molehill and has leaked the all documents concerning the generators to the media, which is beyond his capacity.
And determined to rub some officials involved in, Akpama has engaged in war of vendetta and pull them down syndrome by brandishing the documents that he claims indicted some of them before the public and security operatives.
As if that is not enough, he has now engaged in media trial after all efforts to extort money from those he allegedly found giluilty failed. Everyday, he recruits some group of journalists and gives them money to publish untrue stories about the Ugep generator saga. No wonder, we have been seeing pockets of media reports on social media regarding the issue.
In the light of the above, we as concerned Cross Riverians, do hereby call Mr Godwin Akpama to stop forthwith further attacks and media propaganda on some political office holders.
We advise him to concentrate on advising his principal, HE Bassey Otu, on how best to tackle security challenges and any other issues that may serve for the best interest of the state. All intelligence reports from his office should no longer be made public.
We condemn intoto Akpama’s style of using his office to feather his economic nest to the detriment of others. He should submit himself to the man that appointed him. Trying to lord it over other appointees or elected officials, who he has no iota of rights above, should be stopped forthwith
We, shall not hesitate to press for his removal if he continues to use his office to harrass his fellow appointees or extort money from anybody in the guise of writing whether negative or positive intelligence report.
A stitch in time saves nine.
Comrade Justine Asuquo
Coordinator
Comrade Ibor. I. Ibor
Secretary
Comrade Abang O.Abang
Publicity Secretary..
