Gov. Akpabio battles Thisday Newspapers

All is currently not well between Governor Godswill Akpabio and the management of the Nduka Obaigbena-led Thisday Newspapers.
And the cause of this bitter war of words between the erstwhile good friends ACTION!, reliably gathered had to do with an editorial the former carried recently and thoroughly lambasted the choice of the former, as one of the recipients of a honourary award from the Nigerian Defence Academy (NDA).
Since publishing the editorial, which the government of Akwa Ibom described as, “damaging, malicious unfair and ill-conceived, the large-hearted Governor that doles out money as if it is going out of fashion, has equally unleashed his media aides on Thisday, through several critical and combustive rejoinders.
In one of the rejoinders written by Usoro I. Usoro, a Senior Special Assistant on Media (Print and Research), to embittered Akpabio, he said Thisday shot itself in the foot, by hitting hard on his principal, in an editorial entitled: “The Abuse of Honourary Degrees”, published on Sunday, September 25.
“…In a piece bereft of solid facts or deeper analytical insights, the paper turned logic on its head and rambled to a ridiculous end… Last year, Thisday gave Gov. Akpabio an award as an Emerging Tiger… Why is Thisday trying to dance naked? Why speak from both sides of the mouth?” While further lampooning Thisday for taking on his boss, Usoro wrote: “Does it mean that Akpabio did enough to deserve Thisday honour, but less to merit an award from another institution? Or is Thisday saying its own awards come too cheap and does not measure up to those from other institutions? Is Thisday questioning its own credibility…?”
Also taking a further swipe at Thisday, in defencee of his principal in another national newspaper, Anietie Ekong, a Special Assistant on Media to Akpabio, maintained that the now very controversial editorial presents a good case study in self negation, contradiction and double-speak. “Indeed, with the ill informed editorial, Thisday has elevated its editorial inconsistency to high level and has fallen victim of the Nigerian malaise of double standard, which should not plague a respected media institution...”
We will definitely keep you posted as these two big masquerades continue to fire and fight dirty in public, over what many are alleging had its root in a business deal gone sour.