The Senator Godswill Akpabio Campaign Organisation says the current actions of Akwa Ibom State government and Peoples Democratic Party in the state are signs of frustration arising from the impending rejection at the polls next year and the reality of their return to their second addresses through their touted ”chartered flight.”
Some newspapers and social media in the country were awash with reports that the first official visit of the wife of the President, Aisha Muhammadu Buhari to Akwa Ibom State was Friday, December 14 marred by a security breach allegedly caused by Senator Godswill Akpabio’s wife, Unoma.
Yet, the campaign organisation casually dismissed thus “Since the visit of the First Lady of the country, Her Excellency Mrs. Aisha Buhari, the State Government and Peoples Democratic Party who are miffed and disgruntled by the feat of bringing such a high profile personality to the State, have in their frenzy, inundated public space with worrisome falsehood, innuendos and outright lies.”
It was reported that the President’s wife was in the state for the first time to flag off her project, Future Assured Programme, organised in collaboration with National Directorate of Employment (NDE) which saw the empowerment of 11,600 women and youths of the state drawn from the 31 local government areas of the state.
The drama occurred at the Victor Attah International Airport, Uyo when Mrs. Akpabio allegedly attempted to assume the responsibility of the wife of the Governor, Mrs. Martha Udom Emmanuel.
It was gathered that while the door of the aircraft opened and the First Lady, Aisha Buhari was to alight from the aircraft, Mrs Akpabio suddenly stepped forward shoving aside Mrs. Martha Emmanuel in order to receive the President’s wife instead of Mrs Emmanuel. This led to the door of the aircraft being shut while the President’s wife retreated and waited inside until the senator’s wife was persuaded to stop further attempts to ridicule the state by her actions.
When normalcy was restored after 25 minutes, the aircraft doors were opened once again as Mrs Buhari stepped down to a warm embrace of Mrs Emmanuel who introduced her to other Akwa Ibom women at the airport.
However, the campaign organisation rejected the story making rounds that Mrs Akpabio wanted to usurp the function of the wife of the state governor, stating “That what happened was a conflict between the overzealous security and Protocol Team of the First Lady of the State and the highly disciplined Protocol Team of the First Lady of the Country.
“That the security/protocol team of Her Excellency, Mrs. Martha Udom Emmanuel demonstrated brazen overzealousness fuelling speculations that they came with a premeditated plan to disrupt, mar or abort the event.
“That the fracas which caused the First Lady to retreat to the aircraft was part of the grand plot by the State Government in active collusion with their co-conspirators to abort the programme and embarrass the Nation’s First Lady, Senator Godswill Akpabio and the All Progressives Congress.
“That nobody whatsoever, including Senator Akpabio who was far away from the melee tried either directly or by proxy to prevent the First Lady of the State from performing what Ibiok has described as statutory role as clearly shown in the pictures uploaded on the social media.
“That having failed to realize their sinister intention, they are trying to turn the table with an agenda of persecution complex to draw public sympathy. But let it be stated that Akwa Ibom people know better and would not be hoodwinked into their obnoxious gambit.
“The people know that Senator Godswill Akpabio and his wife, Her Excellency, Mrs. Ekaette Unoma Akpabio are law abiding citizens and Christian faithful who live in strict compliance to secular and religious tenets.”
“They know that the allegation that Mrs. Akpabio struggled to usurp the role of the First Lady of the State is a ruse, unfounded, laughable, absurd and that the Distinguished Senator and the wife who are household names in the country do not need to struggle for recognition in the State.
They know and are aware that neither the Office of the First Lady of the State or the State Government had any plans for the visit of the First Lady of the Country as there was no publicity as expected at any level to indicate such preparedness,” it stated.
The organisation in a press release dated Monday, December 17, noted “The people who have watched their hypocrisy are wondering why the same people who refer to the husband of the First Lady with uncharitable expression like cloned Jubril from Sudan, are falling over themselves to accord the wife a grandiose reception including the provision of vehicles and a banquet in her honour but to which the Nation’s First Lady outrightly rejected.
“Perhaps this was why Her Excellency, Aisha Buhari noted that with the zealousness exhibited in the efforts to receive her by the State Government and the First Lady, she is sure that the State governor and the wife would soon join APC.”
The organisation frontally hit the press release dated Saturday, December 15 and entitled Akpabio: This Show of Arrogance Must Stop by Emmanuel Ibiok, who was Special Adviser on Political and Legislative Matters to Godswill Akpabio as a governor but is now the Spokesperson, Divine Mandate Campaign Organisation, which is overseeing the re-election of Governor Udom Emmanuel.
“The people know that the poorly scripted press statement by Emmanuel Ibiok calling on Senator Akpabio to apologise to the Akwa Ibom State Government is a mere grandstanding designed for distraction.
“They know that if anyone deserves apology, it is the Nation’s First Lady, Senator Akpabio and Unoma Akpabio and not the other way round because the overzealousness of the Protocol Team of Martha Udom Emmanuel who tried to disrupt the event were carrying out the instructions of the State Government.
“The people know that the likes of Emmanuel Ibiok who are obviously incapable of deep thinking and reflection are the problems of Governor Udom Emmanuel. With such characters around him, the governor’s problems must continue to grow in geometrical proportion,” the organisation pointed out.”
According to the release, “That our principal and spouse having previously occupied those high offices in the land have ramrod respect for the Office of Governor and First Lady thus will not breach protocol to discomfit the occupants of the office irrespective of the obvious irreverent disposition of the current occupants to them.
“That the visit which was occasioned by a collaborative Empowerment Programme by the Office of the First Lady of the Country, National Directorate of Employment(NDE) and Senator Godswill Akpabio for the empowerment of about 11,600 women and youths, was more of a party event than a state visit.
“That despite this reality, the role of the First Lady of the state in receiving the First Lady of the Nation was not in dispute and at no point whatsoever was any plan conceived to deny her from performing that role.”
The Organization thanked Akwa Ibom people for turning out en masse to receive the First Lady. It wishes to reiterate that its principal, Senator Godswill Akpabio would continue to work for the interest of the state and its people even in the face of provocation as being currently witnessed.
It called on “Akwa Ibom people to continue to support the Buhari administration in its efforts to build a viable economic foundation while preparing to vote out the incompetent administration that has bedeviled the state in the past three and a half years with little or nothing to show.”
