On Saturday, 21st July 2012, the Akwa Ibom State Government was constrained to measurably react to the well-orchestrated media campaigns of the leadership of Cross River State, which started about the first week of July 2012, culminating in the State broadcast of 10th July 2012. The said broadcast confirmed the information we had had that all the public and parliamentary posturing in the weeks immediately preceding the Supreme Court decision of 10th July 2012 on the 76 oil wells in both Cross River State and Abuja were indeed acts of the very tip of the political leadership of Cross River State. It therefore became expedient for us to respond then, and we satisfactorily did.
LIES-FOR-SUPPORT SYNDROME
But in reaction to our response, the Cross River State Government, in a statement credited to my very learned and noble brother, the Attorney-General of Cross River State and reported in the Saturday Sun of August 4, 2012, elected to serve the very discerning public with what can regrettably be described as a salad of lies and discourtesy.In line with our intention not to banter words or exchange diatribes with Cross River State Government on the pages of newspapers, we resolved not to dignify the impudence of Cross River State leadership with a reply, convinced that our well-stated position was better left in the court of public opinion. However, we find it difficult to ignore the persistent sponsored jaundiced media commentaries and delusive reports credited to the leadership of Cross River State, all in a desperate bid to keep the victim mentality alive. Receiving the House of Representatives Committee on Treaties and Agreements in Calabar on Thursday, 9th August 2012, that leadership continued to indulge in derogation of the decision of the Supreme Court of 10th July 2012 dismissing the case of Cross River State as “punitive” of that State, to favour Akwa Ibom State. We consider it inappropriate to be silent over such continued display of official buffoonery on an issue as serious as denigration of public institutions and officers in the media.
History bears testimony to the fact that idealess political leaders routinely lie to their people to cajole them into supporting a war they otherwise would refuse. It is not strange, therefore, for such a Government to lie to its people to generate or sustain a controversy. So are we not surprised that the reaction of the Cross River State Government to our response to their orchestrated acrimony over the Supreme Court judgment of 10th July 2012 over her claim to 76 oil wells against Akwa Ibom State Government has been premised on and sustained by deliberate and despicably unethical falsehood. For example, the wantonness and criminal libel in the allegation that
“While this case was pending in court, especially during the period in which judgment was reserved, Akwa Ibom State government organized a football tournament in honour of Justice Dahiru Musdapher, then Chief Justice of Nigeria and presiding judge over the case. Interesting to note that the tournament ended four days after the judgment and the CJN in his address delivered at the colourful ceremony in Uyo, the Akwa Ibom State capital, was full of praises for Governor Akpabio”
only attests to this Napoleonic principle of lies-for-support. The simple truth is that between the 3rd – 13th July 2012 the 19th and 2012 edition of the Chief Justice of Nigeria Sports Competition organized by the National Sports Association For Judiciary was held in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State with the Akwa Ibom State Judiciary as the host. Lagos State Judiciary first hosted this competition in 1995. It is a national Judiciary event, had nothing to do with the Akwa Ibom State Government and, from enquiries made since this falsehood was propagated, the last Chief Justice of Nigeria, Hon. Justice Dahiru Musdapher, GCON, was not in Akwa Ibom State before, during or after the event. Of course, there is no way the Chief Justice of Nigeria would have visited Akwa Ibom State without the knowledge of the State Government. The Cross River State Government cannot feign ignorance of this annual sporting event of all the courts and other affiliated judicial bodies throughout the Federation, the 2011 edition of which was held in Benue State. Such public display of crass ignorance by Cross River State over easily verifiable information on a national event in a related profession is symptomatic of its dysfunctional leadership; and the non-utilisation of the official information verification tools at its disposal is personification of the administrative hibernation.
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