The Akwa Ibom State Governor Chief Godswill Akpabio says his decision to support Udom Emmanuel as the next governor of the State is borne out of his desire to leave the sustenance of the legacies brought about by his government, in capable hands.
Speaking at the National Arts Theatre in Lagos on the occasion of a Town Hall meeting with the Akwa Ibom State Community (AKISCOM) Lagos, Governor Akpabio said the people of the state found competence and professionalism in Mr Udom Emmanuel, and decided that he should be the next governor of the state.
He said his meeting with the Akwa Ibom Community in Lagos was to interact with them as their Governor and to present his potential successor to them, describing Udom as the right person for the right job at the right time.
Mr. Udom Emmanuel
The Governor who used the occasion to present both the PDP Governorship candidates of Akwa Ibom and Lagos state, Udom Emmanuel and Jimi Agbaje said PDP is performing well in Nigeria and solicited the support of the Akwa Ibom Community in Lagos for the comprehensive victory of the party.
According to Governor Akpabio, his administration since his advent in 2007 declared war on decayed infrastructure and now has transformed Akwa Ibom into a destination of choice.
“We have built the infrastructure and now we are bringing someone who can manage the infrastructure to generate profit for the state,” Akpabio enthused.
The Governor who posited that, “an intelligent man can turn a desert into a Dubai while an non-intelligent man can turn Burkinam Palace into a desert”, maintained that it would be wrong to leave all the achievements in the hands of a politician who would rather think of the next election instead of thinking about the next generation.
Governor Akpabio who shocked the audience when he dismissed the notion that he was done with achievements, announced that the two new international hotels the Sheraton by Four Point Hotel in Ikot Ekpene and the Ibom Hilton Garden as well as the new International Specialist Hospital will be commissioned next month in the state.
Akpabio encouraged them to vote massively for President Goodluck Jonathan as the best President that Nigeria has ever had, in view of his reforms in roads and other infrastructure development adding that the security challenge affecting parts of the nation will soon be a thing of the past.
Udom in his speech said that his emergence was justified by the need for someone with the capacity, competence and ability to consolidate on the gains of Governor Akpabio’s development at the right time.
He said he will anchor his administration on sustainable development that will ensure human capital development.
“We will add Manpower Planning to the Bureau of Labour and Productivity. We are building at the next level, we will create leaders and we will follow our leaders to lead us right. “
According to him, “Governor Akpabio has created the desired change in our state and we need someone who will come and manage that change instead of someone who wishes to come and change the change.”
He urged the Akwa Ibom Community to ensure they have their voters’ card ahead of the next election and craved their support for President Goodluck Jonathan’s re-election.
Akwa Ibom State Governor, Chief Godswill Akpabio (M) presenting the Governorship candidates of the PDP in Lagos and Akwa Ibom Jimi Alagbe (R) and Udom Emmanuel (L)
Also speaking the PDP governorship candidate in Lagos Mr Jimi Agbaje said he could not afford the ignore the gathering of Akwa Ibom Community in Lagos, in view of the importance of non-indigenes to the development of Lagos state and solicited their support for his election and re-election of President Jonathan in the February general elections.
Earlier, Indigenes of Akwa Ibom State resident in Lagos and its environs had thrown their weight behind the 2015 Governorship candidature of Mr Udom Emmanuel.
The event chairman on the occasion Mr Udom Inoyo an Executive Director, Exxon Mobil used the occasion to dispel the notion that Udom Emmanuel had any biological relationship with Governor Akpabio. Cultural troupes, musical performances and song rendition climaxed the colourful occasion.