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An advocacy group in Akwa Ibom State, Mandates Eyes, has called on the Prelate of Methodist Church, Nigeria, Dr Samuel Uche, to tender an apology to the people of the state over a comment credited to him during an event in one of the branches of his church in Abuja.
The prelate was quoted to have said, “I am saying this publicly and I am not mincing words, former governor (Godswill) Akpabio and the incumbent Minister of Niger Delta Affairs left a very big shoe behind that is still very difficult to fill in Akwa Ibom State.”
Reacting to the comment in a statement titled, “That ‘unpriestly’ vituperation against Akwa Ibom by Dr Samuel Uche, Prelate of Methodist Church,” the group advised the prelate to concentrate on his ecclesiastical calling rather than dabbling into the politics.
The statement was signed by the group’s Director of Public Communications, Uwemedimoh Umanah.
According to Umanah, such an utterance doesn’t speak well of the prelate in the eyes of well-meaning members of the public.
“The above comment credited to the Prelate of the Methodist Church with reference to Akwa Ibom State is beyond mischief, and can rightly be described as blackmail taken too far.
“We, in the Mandate Eyes, hereby call on the Pastor Samuel Uche to apologise to Akwa Ibom people, for insulting their integrity with such a veiled and destructive comment. He should desist from making provocative utterances capable of inciting sane people of the now peaceful Akwa Ibom.
“At first it sounded like a joke or prank by some idle bloggers, especially since the name of the prelate is wrongly presented as Sunday instead of Samuel.
“We waited to see if Prelate Samuel Uche would react to it, to no avail. Having seen no contrary remarks from the Methodist prelate, we are compelled to believe that he made that wild allegation, possibly to also dig deep into the former governor’s established norm, that what money cannot do (for greedy and selfish Nigerians) more money can do.
“It’s the height of unfounded generalisation by Pastor Samuel Uche, whose statement implies that Akwa Ibom State, under Udom Emmanuel, is faring woefully,” the group said.
