Senator Godswill Akpabio has doubted the claim touted by the state government that Akwa Ibom is the safest state in the country.
Akpabio representing Akwa Ibom North West in the Senate dropped the bomb Wednesday in an interview in Comfort 95.1 FM, Uyo as part of preparations by members and stakeholders of All Progressives Congress, APC, to receive President Muhammadu Buhari in Uyo, the state capital on Friday, December 28.
Governor Udom Emmanuel who during his 2018 Christmas broadcast in radio and television to Akwa Ibom people declared that “Three and a half years as your Governor, no one has been kidnapped for political reasons, no one has been assassinated for holding a different political view point; no one has been harassed for speaking his or her mind. I have been insulted, called all manner of names but I have taken it all in the chin, knowing full well that our people who enjoy the peace and security in this State are with us.
“Do you, my dear Akwa Ibomites want to go back to the days of horror, of killings and of kidnappings? The same people who brought you those years of horror are back together and they have promised you and the entire world that they will unleash violence upon you in the fashion of Warsaw saw war.”
Emmanuel purportedly made a veiled reference to the era of Godwill Akpabio who ruled Akwa Ibom from 2007 to 2015 as a violent one.
However, Akpabio wondered why people would assume the Governor Emmanuel administration is the safest in the history of the state when more than 500 persons have been murdered while more than 2,000 others are Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in Etim Ekpo, Ika and Ukanafun local government areas of the state.
“There is no church in Ukanafun in the last two years. Schools are closed, people have packed out, houses are empty. Grasses have grown all over schools. How can someone say that Akwa Ibom is the safest state in Nigeria with over 2,000 IDPs and over 500 people dead?
“Take a trip to Ukanafun and walk around without security. Because Akwa Ibom is very safe, go there alone with your children. Take your children to schools in Ukanafun since you are saying that the state is safe. All the Reverend Fathers and teachers have abandoned the place,” he stated.
Commenting on the industrialisation policy of the government, the Senator said “Government has no business in business. It is the private sector that drives business. The duty of government is provide the needed ambience for business.
On plan by the state government to deliver three aircrafts for commercial purpose, he observed “Let me sound a note of warning to those fronting Ibom Air. The battery factory failed because it was owned by government, there are so many industries owned by government that have failed.”
Speaking on his defection from PDP to APC, Akpabio explained “I didn’t defect to APC to play opposition politics. I’m in APC to give Akwa Ibom a new direction and link up the state with the centre.”
