My attention has been drawn to a publication by Sen Godswill Akpabio, Minority Leader of the Nigerian Senate, in which he strenuously but fruitlessly tries to defend the abysmally poor performance of Udom Emmanuel, the Akwa Ibom State governor. Rather than defend Udom Emmanuel, Akpabio should apologize to the people of Akwa Ibom State for imposing Udom Emmanuel on them.
I stand by my earlier submission published on page 7 of The Nation on Thursday, 5 October 2017, in which I stated with unimpeachable facts that Akpabio’s shoes are too big for Udom Emmanuel.
Akpabio himself implicitly confirmed my position on the poor performance of Emmanuel by stating that after almost three years in office the only “achievements” of Gov Emmanuel that he, Akpabio, could point to are privately owned cottage industries “producing” syringes and meters where the stake of the Akwa Ibom State Government in the two factories is not more than N100m per venture.
In the rejoinder, Akpabio claimed I was mischievous by calling out Udom Emmanuel on his embarrassing performance. How could I have been mischievous in stating the truth about Emmanuel’s incompetence, cluelessness and pettiness?
I have the following questions for Akpabio:
1) Is it not true that you have privately complained to people about Emmanuel’s incompetence and lack of capacity and failure to put to use the projects you had completed and commissioned when you were leaving office?
2) Has the Sheraton Hotel project in Ikot Ekpene, which you commissioned, been put to use?
3) Have the projects you completed and commissioned in the Tropicana Entertainment Centre in Uyo, namely, Hotel, Shopping Mall, Theme Park, not been abandoned by Emmanuel?
4) Is the Uyo-Ikot Ekpene road project not abandoned?
5) Has the Akwa Ibom 20th Anniversary Specialist Hospital in Uyo not been shut down due to neglect and failure to provide the facility with adequate funding?
6) Is the Le Meridien Hotel and Golf Course in Uyo not in a sorry state because the State government failed to defray debts owed the hotel, thus making it impossible for the managers of the hotel to carry on with their work of running the facility and maintaining the Golf Course?
7) Are the major roads in Uyo not in darkness at night because Udom Emmanuel lacks the capacity to maintain them? Please drive through the airport road to confirm that 50 percent of the street light poles have been stolen under Emmanuel’s watch.
8) Is the city of Uyo not dirty, unkempt and unsightly? So Udom Emmanuel, according to Akpabio, will need 8 years to perform even basic, routine tasks of keeping Uyo clean and maintaining street lights? Emmanuel will need 8 years to put to use the projects Akpabio completed and commissioned?
9) He will need 8 years to maintain the Le Meridien Hotel and Golf Course in Uyo? He will need 8 years to maintain the Specialist Hospital that Akpabio spent N41 billion to complete, and which has now been shut down because of the failure of Emmanuel’s government to fund the hospital? This line of defence for Emmanuel’s poor performance is absolutely ridiculous, patently hypocritical and downright insincere.
10) Why didn’t, you, Sen. Akpabio, wait for 8 years to accomplish the projects you executed during your first term in office?
In trying, unbelievably, to defend Emmanuel’s scandalously poor performance, Akpabio failed to name the 750 km of roads Emmanuel has advertised on billboards everywhere in the state and at Uyo airport as his achievements since he became governor nearly three years. So why is the Uyo-Ikot Ekpene road started by Akpabio not part of the 750 km of roads falsely claimed by Emmanuel? And where are the 750 km of roads? No one can hide a pregnancy with her palm. It is difficult to sustain falsehood.
Akpabio should not be apologetic for his good works. Rather, he should apologize to the people of Akwa Ibom State for imposing on them a governor who is uncommonly incompetent and clueless. Why is Akpabio afraid? He should speak the truth for only the truth will set us free.
Udom Emmanuel should be accountable to the people of Akwa Ibom State. What has he done with the N600 billion he has so far received? Udom Emmanuel is turning out to be a historic curse to Akwa Ibom people. Look at the facts: he is a do-nothing governor, not able to deliver on services and infrastructure, which explains why the state reference hospital has been shut down and the flagship state-owned Le Meridien Hotel is in a state of unimaginable dilapidation. Yet this governor, whose position was procured under ungodly circumstances, would not allow a federal agency, duly established by law, to bring development to the state. He is physically blocking the NDDC from building infrastructure and delivering services in the state.
Udom Emmanuel appears to be dazed by the onerousness of his office. He is stymied into a state of inertia. Let him prove that he is not by completing the Uyo-Ikot Ekpene road. Emmanuel should immediately put to use all the mega projects completed by Akpabio. Udom should stop being petty and envious of Akpabio.
He should stop using only commissioners from Onna local council area and end discrimination against other key officials of his government. Akwa Ibom people should not allow Udom Emmanuel to continue in his perilous path. The state has had enough of his incompetence and cluelessness.
Written by Aniekan Inyang, Uyo, Akwa Ibom State.
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