By Simdi Gloria:-
A former governor of Akwa Ibom State has been told to discard the thought of the state having a governor like him come 2023 as the state is not willing to go back to its era of unsolved killings.
The group, Akwa Ibom Good Governance Advocates, reacted to statements that were attributed to the ex-governor at Ika Local Government Area, during the funeral rites of Dr. Ime Titus Okopido, a former Minister of State in the Ministry of Environment, and Hon. Ini Titus Okopido, the Akwa Ibom State Chairman of All Progressives Congress (APC).
It was reported that Akpabio said that he prayed that God will give Akwa Ibom another person like him that will ensure rapid development in the state and improve the living conditions of the people.
The National President of the group and a former youth leader in the state, Comrade Udeme Ekpe in a Press Conference in Uyo said that a time when the state is struggling to free itself from the trauma and scars of the bloody era when he held sway, anyone wishing to take the state back to that era does not wish Akwa Ibom well.
” I feel the minister was mischievously playing to the gallery, but I find this out of place because that was not the best place to talk or play politics. It was disrespectful to the family that was mourning their dead.
“His rhetorics that Akwa Ibom State does not need leaders that would build temples in Dubai, and London, but those that would build people and community, is ironic and an indictment on himself and his administration which was famous for littering the state with white elephant projects which he left behind. Also, it’s amusing to hear this statement from a man that has an undisclosed number of private property around the world that he never had until when he became Governor of Akwa Ibom State
“While we agree that Governance is like a building block and when one takes it to a level, another who succeeds him has to take it further, it does not warrant building on existing evils such as the numerous killings, violence, assassinations and all the politically motivated killings we saw in this state during his administration.”
The group further noted that it was morally wrong for the ex-governor to turn the funeral into a theatre of self-praise.
“This man has deep insecurities; why is he always trying so hard to make people love him; why is it that everything he did or is doing is the best and no one else can match him? Can someone ask him what happened to the billions spent on the abandoned Tropicana? Does he not fly Ibom Air? Did he set that up? he should get ready to face the anti-graft agencies on the alleged fraud perpetrated by the Interim Management Committee, IMC, and also get used to the fact that Akwa Ibom State has moved beyond the theatrics of infantile governance and waste of his years in office as Governor”.
Dr. Umoh Etim, the group’s spokesperson said while the ex-governor is free to dream on who becomes governor in 2023, the Akwa Ibom people are grateful to God for rescuing the state from the grip of state-sponsored terror.
“Those close to him should be bold and courageous enough to advise him not to remind orphans who lost their parents to his bloody vengeance or widows whose husbands were murdered during his regime or citizens whose mothers and daughters were kidnapped, raped and killed all because he wanted to perpetuate himself in power.
“These set of people need closure to forget such unimaginable, cruel and barbaric experience the Akpabio regime subjected them and their families to and 2023 is no period for him to think he can return Akwa Ibom to his own version of “Golgotha”.
NEWSIE EVENTS MEDIA TEAM Follow Us On Twitter,Instagram & Facebook
@NewsieEvents,I.G newsieevents, Facebook Newsie Events