PDP Will Not Be An Irresponsible Opposition – Ini Ememobong

… “I wish I had more controversies”

The State Publicity Secretary of Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Comrade (Barr) Iniobong Ememobong has said the party will not be an irresponsible opposition party. The spokesman of the state chapter of the party stated this during a recent visit to the secretariat of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) on an homecoming.
“PDP will not be an irresponsible opposition at the national. Opposition does not mean senseless criticism, it means constructive criticism which offers productive alternative”, said the former NANS boss.
He said the current leadership of the party in the state as headed by returning chairman, Obong Paul Ekpo will make sure power returns to the people.
“The current PDP led by Paul Ekpo has credible people and we ready to make sure that in everything we do we bring to bare the motto of the party that power must belong to the people.
“The congresses we have had in the state was the most peaceful in the country without the usual rancor because power actually returned back to the people”, Comrade Ememobong said.
Comrade Ememobong who said he is returning to the media community because media is his first love, solicited for more support from the fourth estate of the realm to help him succeed in his new responsibility.
“I came to show that we may have crossed into the public sector but we remain with the masses. Your friend determines your thoughts, your environment shapes your thoughts, therefore there is no way you live with the people and you leave them to work, when you come back from work you will meet them again. So we try to maintain such friendship at times like this so that we can’t remain very normal because it is said power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely.
He however said his new task is onerous because he will have to work on redesigning the image of the party and reselling it to the people people.
“At a time like this which I’m saddled with the responsibility as critical as redesigning the image of the party previously in occupation of the seat at the federal level with majority states in Nigria, but now having lost at the Federal level but still in occupation in Akwa Ibom, having to redesign the image of the party and resell the party to people, it is an onerous task.
“Conscious of the fact that whatever we do lies solely within where we do except we broadcast, and who are those who do that? It is the media. That is why we are here”, stated the PDP image maker.
He took time recount his experience in the media world, saying he is back to reignite some part of him he had suspended some years ago.
“I’m here considering my history, because our history brings us to our today and our today obviously shapes our future. I have come here to reignite some part of me which I (did not leave but) suspended some years ago.
“You may recall that I’m the foundation member of Bush House which was the first private independent television production in Akwa Ibom. You will recall that I was also part of the Bridge TV Show. You will recall that I was reporter for Weekly Update (Newspaper). We have been on this turf but when duty called that we left to go into students politics, it was apt that we suspended that part to avoid a clash of interest. No matter where I went to, my heart laid where I left it and therefore, while at those offices we did everything humanly possible to remind people that we were only on a journey, that our home was media practice. Even when we went to law, we still made people understand that the foundation was the media”, said the man popularly known as Timmy.
He thanked the media for their unflinching and unceasing support right from his days as NANS President.
“I must thank the media for their support. Especially the media in Akwa Ibom for their humongous support during my president in NANS. That part of my life was not without controversy, today I seat back and wish I had more controversies.
“I must thank the press community here who for one day never wavered. Their support was strong and unflinching. Today I come to say thank you and to also say that I have returned back home.”
He recalled the storms he weathered through while in the office as NANS boss, saying he learnt a lot of lessons while serving as the nation’s number one student.
He said Journalists must be more educated than the people they seek to inform because the Bible asked ‘can the blind lead the blind?’. “Good communication will stop a society from perishing.
“I have come to court the love that was there because the Bible says go back to the first love. That love that existed. Even as Special Assistant to the Govenor on Student Matters, I had great cooperation from the press. As SA to Governor Udom Emmanuel on Political Maters I had great cooperation from the press, today having left government we are back to the social field”, Ememobong concluded.
TheMail Newspaper understands the linguist resigned as a close aide to the governor few days to the state congress, paving way for him to be elected as the party’s spokesperson. He is one of the key men in the newly constituted party exco.