November 13, (THEWILL) – The Governorship candidate of the Young Progressives Party, YPP, in Akwa Ibom State for the 2023 elections, Senator Bassey Albert Akpan, popularly known as OBA, has come under severe criticism following his verbal attacks on his counterpart of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Pastor Umo Bassey Eno.
Senator Akpan was quoted to have challenged the PDP candidate during his ward campaigns in Ibeno Local council, to publish the names of the 2000 employees he claims to have employed, arguing that it was impossible for the hotel (Royalty hotel) owned by Eno, to have such staff strength.
He also condemned the salary scale of Eno’s hotel employees, saying it was below minimum wage as a good number of workers earn as low as N15,000 per month.
The YPP Guber candidate also taunted Umo Eno about his WAEC result, asking rhetorically if a Managing Director of a company can employ an applicant with a forged certificate.
OBA’s seeming mockery statement which has now gone viral stated: “I challenge the Governorship candidate of PDP, Umo Eno to publish the 2000 names he claimed to have employed in his hotel business. I put it to you that the employees of Umo Eno, their salary is not up to minimum wage. He pays N15,000.
“If you are an MD of a company will you allow somebody like Umo Eno with poor certificate to work in your company as a manager?
“If Umo Eno came to your company as an employee without a certificate, will you appoint him as Managing Director of your company?”
Reacting to the open attack on the PDP candidate, a social commentator and political analyst in Akwa Ibom state, Reverend Richard Peters, said, it is petty, ridiculous and audacious to ask pastor Umo Eno to publish the names of his employees just to prove that they are up to 2000 people.
He said: “for privacy policy, companies even government don’t publish the names of their employees just to prove a point unless for an internal memo.
“It is so sad that OBA is asking Umo Eno to publish the names of the 2000 people that he employed. Very ridiculous and petty! Growing companies do not publish the names of their workers because of their privacy policy even a company as big as Dangote doesn’t publish names of its workers for the public, even government, except for an internal memo.”
Commenting on the certificate issue, Peters said “thank God he has acknowledged that Umo Eno has certificate and so far he has a certificate he is qualified to be the governor of the state, the constitution said for you to be the president or governor of Nigeria you must at least pass through the secondary school level and he just affirmed that. A good or bad certificate is not the test for good leadership.”
Many concerned citizens of the state have also shown disapproval over OBA’s comments saying that he failed to concentrate on major issues but Instead, deviated to attack a fellow candidate who may be ‘better than him.’
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