* Explains grouse with First Lady Unoma Akpabio
Introduction
I want to
welcome you very warmly to this interactive session; I can see you are trying
to make it look very formal meaning that you have changed the format of this
interactive session. I thought that we should call you this evening so that I
can personally say thank you to you all. The last time we had a meeting like
this, I was still the Secretary to the state government and that was sometime
in 2013. And I had also called you to request you to support the administration
in terms of reporting the policies and programmes of the administration.
Today as Chief
Ita Awak pointed out it is almost one year since I left office. Many of you, I
don’t know where you have disappeared to maybe you are part of ACA- Akwa Ibom
Cunny Arrangement (laughs). But I am so happy to see your faces today. And I
belief we will have a very interesting interactive session. I am not going to
be the only one to talk; I will also like to listen to you. I am sure there are
many questions you may want to ask us and there are some questions we may want
to ask some of you specially my friends from THE INK and Radar.
HIS TAKE ON IBOM DEVELOPMENT NETWORK
The Ibom
Development Network as you are aware is the body promoting my governorship
aspiration, it is no longer news that I am in the race for governorship and we
have been working behind the scenes because we cannot come out to the open to
campaign now but what we have so far is just consultations, we have been
reaching out to stakeholders in the state and I want to say that we have
consulted very widely. I am in the position to say that the people of Akwa Ibom
state have earnestly ask me to run for the position of the Governor. (Claps)
and I have also accepted the challenge and when the time comes, I will declare
formally and the rest will follow. This evening, I will like to say that we
should have a platform to deal with many issues especially rumours. I will
allow you to raise some of these questions and then we will deal with the
issues because I will not want to preempt you I will just want us to discuss.
So whatever you think we should discuss let us go ahead and discuss it.
HIS
POINT OF DEPARTURE WITH THE GOVERNOR AFTER HE WAS PROMISED THE GUBER POSITION
On the issue
that the governor promised me his position at this point may not be necessary.
I think what is important is that I am in the race and I am committed, it does
not matter who could have made suggestions to me in the past or who offered to
support me in the past. Because whether the governor offered to support me
belongs to the past, whether he has changed his mind today is not important. I
think what is important is that I am still in the race and I believe I have
something to offer in that regards. To make my contributions to better the lots
of our people, so I would not want to focus on whether the governor promised to
support me in the past or whether he is no longer supporting me, all those
things is in the past. I will rather concentrate on the fact that I am in the
race and I am committed and I appreciate the massive support I am getting from
the people of Akwa Ibom state.
HIS GROUSE
WITH THE FIRST LADY ABD WHETHER HE RESIGNED HIS POSITION OR THE GOVERNOR FORCED
HIM OUT?
You know any
political appointment that you accept is at the mercies of the Governor and at
any point in time if you feel that can no longer continue, you have the right
to resign and if the governor who appointed you also feels you can no longer
continue, he also have the right to disengage you. So I believe that since whatever
happened was the Governor’s method of disengaging me, we will have to go by
that.
After my disengagement,
the Governor thanked me for my services and contributions to the development of
the state and wished me well. That should show you that we had come to that
point where we had to separate. May be
the manner of the separation was not argued because I was out of the state when
I also heard the report that my office has been sealed up by police and SSS, in
fact, it was on AIT, Channels and NTA. It wouldn’t have been speculations and I
saw it on their news bar. And I believe the Commissioner of Information must
have issued a statement or contacted those platforms and they had that running
for two to three days. So it couldn’t have been speculations. I was not in the
office when that happened so I am not in the position to confirm who led the operation
but just like you, I also read that it was the Wife of the Governor Unoma
Akpabio, who led the operation. I was not an eye witness but that was what I
read and also reliably informed.
Ofcourse you
may want to ask, why that level of drama over a matter of disengagement?
Because the issue of disengagement is a routine affair so the whole drama of
sealing off the office is really unnecessary in my opinion. I think that was
taken too far. This is a question I will love to answer very well when the time
comes.
WHY HE THINKS THE PEOPLE OF AKWA IBOM STATE
SHOULD VOTE FOR HIM
I have been
involved in the last two administrations, I was the commissioner of finance in
the administration of the former governor Obong Victor Attah, I was the SSG in
the administration of Governor Akpabio for that period I think six years. I can
appreciate the challenges; I know how far we have gone. In some of the areas,
for example in the area of infrastructure and I am also aware that we still
have a lot to do in the area of industrialization, job creation, wealth
creation, empowerment of our people and of course a conscious and diligent
effort to deal with such issues in the area of health, education. I think I
will have to pay special attention to the development of agriculture because
that is also one way that we can be able to create jobs. I think we will have a
paradigm shift from infrastructure to other areas. When the time comes we will
give you the full package of what we are going to do for the state.
Petition to Human Rights Commission
Well we have
not come out to deny it, it is not a personal thing, it is not about Umana Okon
Umana, it is about all of us who have been threatened or who feels threatened
and we stated why we felt that the appropriate authorities should carry out
investigations. The issues should be investigated and that is not too much to
ask for and it is not a crime to ask for investigation. If you drive into
Transcorp in Abuja and you notice a suspicious movement, you have the right to
call the police and say come and investigate. For example you are aware of the
case of our Director General Chief Sunny Udom, armed men invaded his office and
we thank God he was not around, we where told they were robbers, there were
still many many unanswered questions. So we thought we should write to the
appropriate authorities to investigate. And of course my own personal
experience in December is that I received a death letter which of course a copy
I have submitted to the police and I was asked to drop from the governorship race
or else I will be attacked in Uyo, Lagos or Abuja. But I did not pay too much
attention to it because I had police protection but I was in Abuja when I got
the report that my police details have been withdrawn.
And it came as
a surprise to me, the curious coincidence of my police details being withdrawn
a few days after I received a threat letter. And when I made further enquires,
I was told there were withdrawn on the orders of the Governor. That gives us a
course of concern for the coincidence and many other examples as stated in that
petition. We also had to do that against the background of what we witnessed in
2010/2011 when the elections were around the corner. It is possible they could
be some connection and the authorities should look into it. It is their job to
investigate and come out with a report, all we did was within the law, and we
acted as responsible citizens. We didn’t say anybody is guilty.
RELATIONSHIP WITH THE CURRENT SSG
Of course it
has to be cordial, he is a fine gentleman, and from day one I wished him well
and prayed for his success in office. Attending his swearing in ceremony was to
underscore the fact that there is nothing personal about it and that if you stay
in that kind of office one day you have to leave, you make your contributions
and you leave it is not a permanent office. Even the office of the governor is
not permanent it has an expiring date for example on May 29th the
tenure the current Governor, Godswill Akpabio will end constitutionally. It is
to show an example to other people who are coming. I did not feel bad about it.
I was happy I had to make my own contribution.
His links to all the atrocities that
happened while he was serving as SSG
Because I
served in the last administration, does not mean that whatever transpired then
I must have been the one who gave the nod. I don’t think that you can give your support to assassination or
murder issues. I don’t think so, that wasn’t under the mandate of my office if
you go look at the duties of my office as SSG, you can’t find any of these
items on how to advise on killing and so on. It wasn’t part of my duties. I
only operated under the mandate of my office. Let me also point out that in
government it is the Governor who is the chief security officer and all the
security chiefs report to the Governor. He has the security powers to run the
state constitutionally. He takes responsibility; nobody will talk about the
Udom or Umana administration because they were SSG. People will talk about the
Akpabio administration. Leadership means you should take responsibility you
don’t blame subordinates because the power resides with the governor.
I have also
heard stories that because I was the SSG therefore you must have all kinds of
benefits, financial benefits because you were the SSG. Of course we have
several all other SSGs in the past after me we now have Udom and after him there
will be several others, that is the way it is. As SSG I didn’t have the powers
to approve even 50,000 naira. The governor exclusively approves all items of
expenditure and the treasury will only pay when the governor approves. So
nobody can go and take money from the treasury unless the governor approves.
Sometimes people think because you hold a certain position you can drive and take
money from the treasury. That is not correct.
There other
stories that Umana as SSG was very powerful and that even commissioners that
were removed were removed based on his instructions, I have read that in some
of the papers and it is absolutely ridiculous because it is only the Governor
who can appoint or remove. If I could have the powers to sack a commissioner
without the knowledge of the governor, it also means that I can drive to the lodge
and put a gun on the governors head to sign the letters of nomination of the
new commissions and then I will also arrange and put a gun on his head to swear
them in, it is totally ridiculous. That particular story came from a former
commissioner of Agriculture Prof. Etok Ekanem. I wish him well, but I think as someone
who served in the executive council you should know it is one person who has
the powers to hire and to fire. So if I recommended the dropping of
commissioners, who recommended by own disengagement? May be when I got tired I
also made the recommendation.
And then there
was also the very interesting story that I was the one who nominated my
successor who happens to be my cousin, the man is not my cousin I am not
related to him in anyway. That is not to say I have anything against him, I
always pray for him and wish him well. I was there when he was sworn in and to
pray for him.
There
is this News that you and other aspirants are comming together against the
interest of the government.
I don’t know
why the government should have an interest as government because when we say
there should be a level playing field, we expect that everybody should be given
equal opportunity but then let the people of Akwa Ibom state vote and decide
who they want. That is all that we are asking for. I will also make references
to the fact that even when the incumbent governor contested the primaries
against many other aspirants in 2006 the then governor, Obong Attah did not
interfere, he did not issue threats, we did not have reports of the former
governor threatening aspirants and delegates that they will die or that they
will not come near the building where primaries will take place, there was nothing
like that. The party office was open to all aspirants, Chief Sunny Udom was the
senatorial chairman for Ikot Ekpene he can confirm this, the party was open to
everybody, the party chairman was not barred from taking calls from certain
people. The aspirants can talk to each
other there is nothing wrong; it is all part of politics. But I think it is
still early to form an alliance. The aspirants can talk to themselves there is
nothing wrong with that.
ALTERNATIVE PARTY IF HE FAILS TO PICK THE
PDP TICKET
All aspirants will be running to win and we
believe the delegates will support you to be the flag bearer of the party. I
will be contesting to win and with consultations going on, we have massive
support all over the state and by the special grace of God we are looking
forward to my victory at the primaries the issue of plan B does not arise at
all (claps).
The issue of
zoning, well, I want to agree with the gentleman who said even the Governor
himself was not a product of zoning. He said on a National Television when the
minister of Information, Labaran Maku came for the good governance tour. During
the town hall meeting, when the question of zoning was put to him, he said he
was not a product of zoning and that as at 2006 there were 58 contestants from
the 3 senatorial districts and that it was not zoned exclusively to any
particular senatorial district. Maybe there was intention to zone but the party
did not bar anybody that was in 2006.
Again in 2011
we had Frank Okon from Eket senatorial district, we had Imo Udo from Uyo
senatorial district and I think Frank Okon is still in court and some of his
supporters are still believing that he will be declared governor, if he is
declared a governor for example, are you still going to talk about zoning, will
he be stopped because of zoning? It shows you the level of insincerity. And the
fact that until I left office the issue of zoning did not arise, again you may
want to ask what a level of coincidence! The whole zoning saga came out after I
left office. It is for you to find out.
Details in our next Edition
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