Akwa Ibom State governor, Pastor Umo Eno has dismissed rumours claiming he ordered the withdrawal of security operatives from his predecessor, former Governor Udom Emmanuel.

The Governor through the Commissioner for Information, Aniekan Umana in a statement said:

“The deployment, reassignment, or withdrawal of police officers is the exclusive responsibility of the Inspector-General of Police and the commissioner of Police in each State, and not the duty of any Governor.”

“I can tell you on good authority that the Governor did not issue any directive to withdraw security operatives from the immediate past Governor.”

“To the best of our knowledge, there has been no complaint or report from any former Governor or their media aides about the withdrawal of security personnel. The rumour exists only in the imagination of those peddling it.”

Commenting on the development, sources within the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) said:

“So, if the state is saying that it does not know the whereabouts of the security details in Udom’s place, how does it sound?”

“Also, this means a confirmation to the fact that Umo Eno is having issues with his leader, because never in a time that the federal government can just come and remove details from a former governor.”

“It’s a pity that they have played politics to that extent. All this is just for them to kill the PDP, not to exist in the state and to see how they can pocket PDP.”

“Udom has come out perhaps to say, no, PDP has to stand as a party. They are working towards everything to see that the party collapses in the state.”

“But it will not work. PDP is not anybody’s federal property in Akwa Ibom State. My advice is that they should stop panicking and focus on governance.”