Ibom Air: YDP Guber candidate’s claims malicious – Group

                               
The candidate of Young Democratic Party (YDP) in the 2019 governorship election in Akwa Ibom State, Arch. Ezekiel Nyah Etok, has been condemned for his ‘false and misleading’ claims about the newly launched state airline, Ibom Air.

Etok has been very vocal in criticizing the conceptualization of the airline, referring to it as wasteful venture with his recent article titled “Again on Ibom Air”, where he questioned the profitability and sustainability of the airline.

In a swift reaction, Akwa Ibom Liberation Movement (AILM) condemned the actions of Arc. Nyah Etok, describing it as malicious.

The group accused Etok of grandstanding and making ignorant assertions about an innovation that has enjoyed wide acceptance from all well meaning Akwa Ibom citizens and Nigerians as a whole.

Briefing newsmen in Uyo, Solomon Abasiekong, Acting Secretary General, AILM said that Etok was already enjoying the excellent services of Ibom Air thus wondered why the criticism.

“Strange as it sounds, while several Nigerians including notable opposition sympathizers gave great review for the unprecedented feat, the aging governorship candidate of Young Democratic Party (YDP) took time in flight to vent his frustrations over the wide acceptance of the airline”.

“Much as his series of bland essay on Ibom Air does not deserve a second thought let alone a rebuttal, we decide to make an exception of this particular piece, reason being that Architect Nyah Etok seems emboldened each day by his unchallenged censure and continues to spew fallacies thus misleading the unsuspecting public,” he said.

AILM noted that it is absurd for the one time Chairman of the Special Committee on National Social Housing Scheme (NSHS), who is still battling to give intelligible reasons for the long delay in materialization of his utopian concept – to question the profitability of a nascent company.

Taking a swipe at Nyah Etok’s proposal of what Ibom Air should look, the group expressed concern that his idea for the airline is no different from the herders’ demand for ‘ruga settlement’.

“We believe that Architect Nyah Etok’s baseless insinuations about Ibom Air are aimed to sustain his dying popularity after the 2019 governorship elections.

“He searches for nonexistent loopholes in governance and weaves them into narratives to feed his waning audience,” he said.

The group called on well-meaning Nigerians to disregard the claims by Ekoh and focus on the facts that are available.