BEVERLY HILLS, September 13, (THEWILL) – Senate minority leader, Chief Godswill Akpabio, who is the immediate past governor of Akwa Ibom, has quelled speculations that there is a rift between him and his successor, Governor Udom Emmanuel.
Akpabio averred that any purported quarrel remains in the imagination of political jobbers who want to fan the ember of disunity in the state.
He however lambasted those who said they were out to protect the governor’s mandate, describing them as fair weather friends who want to eat where they have not sown.
The former governor spoke at the weekend in Abuja at the 50th birthday celebration of the Special Adviser to the Governor on Security matters, Captain Iniobong Ekong (rtd).
Akpabio stressed that those representing the state at the National Assembly are fully behind the governor and will stand by him to the end.
He recalled that when Emmanuel was thrown up for governorship, the plan was that he will do two terms and that arrangement, according to him, has not changed.
The Senate minority leader therefore said it was a shame that those who benefitted from his generosity while in office as governor are now the ones trying to create division in the state, calling some people Akpabio boys and others, Udom boys.
He went on to predict that the people behind such move will soon decamp to other party before 2018.
He said, “please tell the governor that I said in the public, there is no shaking and that the three senators and ten members of the House of Representatives, are solidly behind him.
“Tell the governor that we love him and he should not listen to slanders and blackmails, that the state is intact for him and that we are proud of what he is doing.
“The thirteen of us will remain steadfast with him beyond 2019.”
The senator stressed that “the mandate given to the governor was for two terms; we support what the governor is doing. We are not disappointed of him.”
He also urged the people of Akwa Ibom to keep faith with the governor and support him to succeed; adding that though Nigerian economy is presently on a life support, the governor he said had done very well.
