Akwa Ibom Governor Udom and his successor Senator Akpabio fall apart

- The Senate minority leader, Godswill Akpabio has threatened to withdraw his support for his successor Governor Udom Emmanuel

- Akpabio said his senatorial district, Akwa Ibom northwest, has been marginalised by the present government

- He said he would only endorse Emmanuel’s re-election if the policies and programmes of the administration were not discriminatory against his senatorial district

Former Akwa Ibom state governor and Senate minority leader in the National Assembly, Godswill Akpabio, has threatened to withdraw his support for the re-election of Governor Udom Emmanuel in 2019.

Punch reports that Akpabio said his senatorial district, Akwa Ibom northwest, has been marginalised by the present government because the projects there had not been completed while new ones had not been initiated.

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Legit.ng gathered that Akpabio told Emmanuel to brcae for the big task while speaking at the annual get-together organised by the deputy governor, Chief Moses Ekpo, to fete the people of Akwa Ibom northwest senatorial district at the Independence Hall, Abak on Wednesday, January 3.

Akpabio announced that he would only endorse Emmanuel’s re-election if the policies and programmes of the administration were not discriminatory against his senatorial district.

He lamented that some of the projects his (Akpabio) administration started like the multi-million naira Four Points by Sheraton Hotel at Ikot Ekpene and the dualisation of the Uyo-Ikot Ekpene Road, had been abandoned by Emmanuel.

The former governor noted that the completion of the projects would form part of the conditions for Emmanuel’s re-election in 2019.

Akpabio, however, asked the governor to remove the wedge that stifles development in his zone or be prepared to face the consequences of such action in 2019.

He said: “2018 is less than one year to election, all is not well oooh; don’t allow anybody to deceive you that all is well. If the hotel in Ikot Ekpene rots after so much money had been expended, would that be a good thing?

“That road from Uyo to Ikot Ekpene, is still the way it was. In the 2018 budget, what is the percentage sum provided for Akwa Ibom North West Senatorial District?

“My job is to say the truth because if at this level I cannot say the truth, then I am not doing well. So, please I want us to start the hotel because when the commissioner for works addressed the youths in August, he assured them that the hotel would be opened in December, it will soon decay if an urgent intervention is not given to the facility.

“Please, let us check the budget to know what has been earmarked for that place. I am not interested in what I did and what I did not do. I am only interested in what I am going to do.

“The truth is that Godswill Akpabio expects us to set our path straight so that we can take one route, even when you are going for communion, you must be in a state of grace, so let us have something from the senatorial district to use in talking about election; to use in convincing the people to stand by us. We are in opposition, we don’t have government, we don’t have police, we don’t have INEC,” he said.

Meanwhile, the commissioner for information and strategy, Charles Udoh, has warned against playing politics with development projects enunciated by the administration since coming on board in 2015.

Speaking in an interview on Thursday, January 4, the commissioner scored the administration high in the areas of physical infrastructure, agriculture, human capital development and free education for children up to the secondary school level.

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He craved for more support for the administration, saying that the administration is striving to spread development projects across the three senatorial districts.

“Let us bury our political differences and unite in love for Mr. Udom Emmanuel to build a state we will all be proud of. Akwa Ibom belongs to all of us, the governor is poised at ensuring sustainable development for the state and the people that will outlive this administration,” he said.

Meanwhile, Legit.ng had previously reported that the Senate minority leader, Godswill Akpabio, denied rumours that he plans to defect to the All Progressives Congress (APC) soon.

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Source: Legit.ng