Akan Okon Vs Umo Eno: Did We Fail As Journalists? By Imoh Etimudo

Politics enjoys a perch on the painted wall blackmail. The cheer, the grouse and grumble from the gamble by Mr Akan Okon all boil down to one fact: Pastor Umo Eno is inching closer to Hilltop Mansion as the number one occupier in 2023. In one of Pastor Umo Eno’s interview with journalists, he was asked his experience in politics so far. He answered by saying, “I used to be surprised by some of the things they write about me. When I get worried, people will tell me not to be bordered that it is politics. I studied political science but I was never taught that politics is about telling lies against others.”

Politicians are good lecturers of bad politics. They wield brush of black tar targeting men in immaculate white of political background. They are professionals in splashing dirt, and pass it with the baptismal name, “politics”. It is more expected from a man still panting from the throes of defeat in his goose chase and still struggling to swallow prescribed bitter political pills. As a left-wing ideologue, incurable optimist and short-sighted historian, the road to infamy is the most attractive to him, and he walks and tumbles with excitement.

In his own politics, anything is possible. He belongs to the brand of politicians who throw away shoes of caution and walk barefooted into his room of broken bottles. He is the politician that breaks out of his shell for the wrong reasons and want to find his way to the shelf of prominence feigning good reasons. And whenever he wants to embark on this dangerous journey, firing blank, he sees the journalists as waiting drivers.

When journalists convey smuggled goods to ostensibly safe locations under any guise, they turn journalism into a minefield. If politics is the art of the possible, journalism should be the art to know the impossible, to know what to publish and what to leave out when in doubt. No good journalist believes the story of too much traffic in the skies except he confirms it by discreet investigation. Otherwise, the trash can is also an item in the newsroom, except the journalist also had interest in the story he hastily and happily published. There is no room for hatred and sentiment in journalism practice!

By the judgement of the Federal High Court, Uyo in the case of alleged falsification of documents between the Governorship Candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Pastor Umo Eno and erstwhile governorship aspirant, Mr Akan Okon, journalism failed in its critical responsibilities, and journalists also contributed in misinforming the public that Pastor Umo Eno’s WAEC results were forged.

For a clime that prides itself to parade new breed apostles of investigative journalists, none could go extra miles to find out whether what Mr Akan Okon presented to undo Pastor Umo Eno was genuine, but what was paramount was to get it published! We all missed a golden opportunity to become heroes. Sort of one-sided investigative journalism! What does it take to reach the skies to confirm how many aircrafts are held by traffic? Journalists would have made the job of the judge easier.

It was the founder of Gazette de France, Theopraste Renaudot who said: “In one thing only will I yield to nobody – I mean in my endeavour to get at the truth.” Granted, journalists do not make news. Journalists do not manufacture facts. They are totally dependent on other people for their news stories. But journalists have a sacred responsibility to save a world whose extinction is threatened by falsehood.

Journalists should reach out for the truth, or its more ascertainable cousin, fact, in the morass of falsehood, deliberate disinformation and the avalanche of propaganda especially during politics and not helping to clinically execute what politicians consciously planned against their opponents like Mr Akan Okon did against Pastor Umo Eno in the name of politics.

To achieve this, journalists must starve laziness, incompetence and bias while applying moderation on competition and uncooked scoop, and be very conscious of the fact that to be the first to publish a piece of news is both romantic and dangerous. Truth is a journalist’s most loyal friend. Making it a casualty is betrayal of the highest order.That is a challenge for journalism for all ages!

The good thing is that a journalist is always smart enough to make others take the blame for their professional “sins” of being subverted certain weaknesses inherent in the profession of journalism. But one may not be as lucky all the time!

Even if a pastor comes to tell you that there is too much traffic in the skies, enter your own flight to go and confirm before you publish same as news. He might be more interested in making you a victim of plane crash who never boarded a flight, since you are a fan of fantasy! If publishing truth is journalism’s badge of honour, hoaxes stain that badge. Remember, the only innocent disseminator known to law is the vendor. The journalist is on a frolic of his own.

The truth is, experiment in every State in Nigeria, no matter who is in the laboratory, will show that Akwa Ibom is the great hope of Nigeria. That is why Akwa Ibom State cannot slide back into dark days of full scale terror, and get mired in the limbo of stagnation. That would have been an unmitigated disaster.

That is why the support for the gold rush of the “golden boy ” is the modern equivalent of the rush into Noah’s Ark. There could not have been a better way to treat a man who has been sentenced by the court – sentenced to victory at the polls! It is victory foretold for Pastor Umo Eno and the PDP family! No matter how loud the drum of blackmail beats, the song at the background is “Victory Ahead!” And the black drum beats below the voice! It is the refrain on every lips of Akwa Ibom people, now beautifully turning the political campaigns for Pastor Umo Eno into a movement!

Imoh Etimudo writes in from the Media & Publicity Committee of the Umo Eno/Akon Eyakenyi Campaign Council of the Peoples Democratic Party, Uyo, Akwa Ibom State.