Someone needs to tell Godswill Akpabio that mockery is not leadership.

So Akpabio stood before people and decided that the most important thing he could contribute to Akwa Ibom’s political conversation was to announce that Udom Emmanuel came in as a Deacon and left as “Mr.” while praising Umo Eno for coming in as a Pastor and remaining one.

Really, Akpabio? That is what you have?

Let us start with the obvious. You brought Udom Emmanuel. You packaged him, you presented him, you imposed him on Akwa Ibom in 2015. If Udom Emmanuel is now “Mr.” in your eyes, what does that make your own judgment? You are publicly mocking your own decision. You are telling Akwa Ibom people that the man you personally chose to govern them for eight years is now beneath your respect. The insult is not just to Udom, it is to every Akwa Ibom person who lived under the government you personally installed.

Second. Church titles are not governance scorecards. Akwa Ibom roads, hospitals, schools, and industries do not care whether their builder was a Deacon, a Pastor, or a plain Mister. The people of Onna, Eket, Uyo, and Ikot Ekpene did not eat religious titles during those eight years. They ate governance. And by governance, real governance. Udom Emmanuel has a record worth defending, which is why his people still respect him with or without your validation.

Third. You sat in the Senate Presidency, the highest legislative seat in Nigeria and you chose to spend political capital mocking a man who, unlike you, has never publicly replied a single insult you or your camp directed at him. Udom Emmanuel has maintained his dignity consistently while your allies have written petitions, planted stories, questioned his jet usage, and now attacked his church title. And through all of it, silence from him. Dignified, unbothered silence.

That silence is not weakness, Akpabio. That silence is the confidence of a man who knows his record speaks for itself.

Fourth. While you were busy counting church titles, did you forget that it was Udom Emmanuel who went to court to protect YOU from EFCC investigation during your own tenure? He defended you when others were baying for your blood. That same man you now reduce to “Mr.” stood in your corner when it mattered. That is not just ingratitude, that is a special kind of shamelessness.

Finally, Umo Eno himself has repeatedly shown more class than your remarks deserve. He has defended Udom publicly, called him a man who served meritoriously, and refused to be weaponized against his predecessor. Your own political ally is quietly rejecting the narrative you are pushing. That should tell you something.

Akwa Ibom deserves better than a Senate President who measures governors by their church titles instead of their service to the people. If this is the quality of political thought coming from the highest legislative office in the land, then the real conversation we should be having is not about Deacons and Pastors.

It is about leaders and whether you still qualify as one.