Leave Udom alone – Ita Enang tells Akpabio

BY NSEOBONG DAVID

The immediate past Senator representing Akwa Ibom North East Senatorial District in the National Assembly, Senator Ita Solomon Enang has called on the immediate past Chief Executive of the State and the current Senator representing Akwa Ibom North west in the National Assembly, Senator Godswill Obot Akpabio to concentrate on his new office and allow the newly sworn-in Governor of Akwa Ibom State, Deacon Udom Gabriel Emmanuel to run the affairs of the state with concentration, and not as a coalition government. 

Senator Ita Enang made this known yesterday, Monday, 15th June, 2015 at his Ewet Housing residence when he was answering questions from journalists on issues bordering the state and national issues.

The ranking Senator who has been in the senate for sixteen years bared his mind on the ongoing rumours making the rounds that Senator Godswill Akpabio  emptied the state treasury and has not vacated the government house and other government assets to enable Governor Udom Emmanuel take over the affairs of the State as supposed.

According to Ita Enang, “The treasury, under the Freedom of Information Act is a matter that should be public knowledge.  There is no more state secrets in matters of state treasury because the money that comes to the state is a matter of public knowledge; that is why it is published in papers, online, etc; then the money that is generated by the state should also be a matter of public knowledge for accountability.”

He continued: “Governor Udom Emmanuel should make the handing over note from former Governor Godswill Akpabio public because he did not handover a private estate to Udom.  He handed over government and governance of Akwa Ibom State which everyone is involved, so he is handing over leadership, funds, even security to Governor Udom Emmanuel.  He should disclose this and make it public so that we can appraise it and use it to take decisions so that if salaries have not been paid, we know if salaries have been taken from the treasury and yet not paid to workers.  So if he has to pay workers’ salary, he would know where he would be paying the salaries from.  He should also disclose assets that were handed over to him.”  

Senator Enang pointed out that there should proper probing to find out the true ownership of some government assets in the state.  His words: “Governor Udom should disclose assets that were handed over to him.  We should find out who owns Akwa Savings & Loans; what of the aircrafts, what vehicles were handed over, how many bullet-proof cars were handed over, who is using those cars now, how many vehicles were each of the public office holders entitled to go back with and how many did they surrender back to the state?  Because all these were bought with public funds.”  

He added: “We should also know who is using the aircraft now, who is paying for the pilot, the crew, the servicing, maintenance, parking fees, etc of the aircraft and who is using it now.”  Is it the governor of Akwa Ibom State – Udom Gabriel Emmanuel or is it the former Governor Godswill Akpabio that is using it?  If it is the former governor that is using it, is it owned by the State?  If it is owned by the state, did he buy it?  We should take this to different level and after reading the handing over note and we discover that somebody is oppressing another person, we can now say; “Godswill fikke Udom”; leave the government of Akwa Ibom State to run as government of Akwa Ibom State and concentrate on your new assignment which you have been inaugurated as the Senator.”

He added that Senator Akpabio should borrow a leaf from how his predecessors did their work in the senate in partnership with the state government to give the state a face at the national level.

He stressed that Senator Godswill Akpabio should allow Governor Udom Emmanuel to concentrate in his administrative duties as the Governor of Akwa Ibom State, learn his lessons where necessary and take his credits because in the end, the government will be named as the government of Udom Emmanuel and not a coalition government between Udom Emmanuel and Senator Godswill Akpabio.

He concluded that to prevent the impending street protest based on the ongoing rumours that Senator Godswill Akpabio has not vacated the government house and the presidential lodge; and is still in possession of the aircraft, he should act right and vacate the place immediately as his tenure had long expired on the 29th May, 2015.