1 We are concerned ELDERS of Akwa Ibom State spread across the three (3) senatorial districts of the State. As is widely known , Akwa Ibom State holds the incontrovertible record of being the largest oil producing State in Nigeria and by that reason the largest contributor to our national wealth.
2 In that last few weeks, we have observed with consternation the trumped- up, false and patently malicious allegations and innuendos directed at the office and person of the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs especially his oversight responsibilities over the Niger Delta Development Commission, (NDDC).
3 The intention of the purveyors of these falsehoods is to maliciously portray the Minister as corrupt and tainted and therefore unfit to drive the needed reforms in the Niger Delta region.
4 Without doubt, the reason for the deluge of petitions against the Minister is essentially as a result of his determination and commitment to ensure that it is not business as usual in the Commission as it had been in the last 20 years. And that a change to a new norm be instituted that would encourage real and sustainable development in the region.
5 To achieve this objective, it became necessary to review why we failed in the past to bring real development to the region and to set up new paradigms for the genuine, all round and sustainable development of the region.
6 Pursuant to this objective therefore, it became necessary to take stock of the activities of the Agency established by Law to husband the development of the region. This is the basis for the call for forensic auditing and the setting up of the Interim Management Committee to provide administrative assistance to aid the exercise.
7 It is obvious that the setting up of the IMC to assist in the forensic audit as directed by Mr President has not gone down well with many powerful entrenched interests who have fed fat on the common patrimony that was rightly intended for the development of the region.
8 It is also obvious that the appointment of our son, Senator Godswill Akpabio, a courageous and fearless politician with uncompromising development oriented zeal who would not yield to their ravenous behest is a signal to the foreclosing of the long standing sleaze that has pervaded the COMMISSION for many years.
9 These ill conceived thoughts and mindsets have sadly spawned the serial blackmail and savage attack on our reputable son, Senator Godswill Akpabio and the IMC that he is supervising as Minister of Niger Delta Affairs under the mandate of Mr President.
10 It is clear that those behind these serial blackmails and fictitious allegations are the fat cats who plundered the resources of the COMMISSSION and stymied the development and progress of the region. Many of them who are known insiders and employees have spent their entire working careers in the COMMISSION and developed inordinate entitlement mentality that has made them even richer than many ministers and governors.
11 Let us at this juncture ask these latter day advocates of probity and concerns for the Niger Delta region where they were:
(a) When the massive insider pillaging of the resources of the COMMISSION continued unabated for the past 20 years so much so that some top officials of the Agency are now rubbing shoulders in material terms with billionaire business men.
(b) Where they were when the COMMISSION was spending N300 million per annum (Three hundred million Naira) as rent and deliberately delaying the completion and movement to the permanent secretariat of the Agency which would have been more cost saving and prudent.
(c) Why are these self acclaimed advocates silent on the non remittance of the statutory three percent from IOCs to the COMMISSION for the development of the Niger Delta region.
12 It is clear to all and sundry that these issues are being tackled head on by Senator Godswill Akpabio who has the political will and capacity to change this depressing narrative for the better. It is, indeed,ironic that instead of applauding the laudable efforts of the MINISTER in addressing these perennial and lingering problems, his traducers are in strenuous and concerted battle to pull him down and derail the focus of the IMC.
13 It bears recalling that Niger Delta as a region is adept in fratricidal conflicts and we have always paid dearly for it. We are best known for engaging in internecine wars that have added neither value nor brought any real progress or advancement to the region.
14 We are particularly irked by the inciting and obviously malicious statement of Otuekong Idongesit Nkanga, a sly, spineless and treacherous ethnic irredentist whose hatred for Senator Akpabio and people outside his immediate ethnic enclave is public knowledge. Idongesit Nkanga is known to possess no social or political value as his long years of public service can not bear testimony to anybody outside the Nkanga’s immediate family that he has assisted or otherwise uplifted.
15 As the first indigeneous military administrator of Akwa Ibom State, he fanned the embers of ethnic schism in a myriad of ways. We recall with disgust that as military administrator, he singled out a section of the State for marginalization and scurrilous and untenable attacks. One can easily draw example of his fetish and primitive mindset which led to his vacuous accusation that there was a plot to use voodoo to incapacitate him. As a result of this laughable accusation, he instituted a strange protocol in government where he had to personally carry his seat to public functions. This reprobate tradition subsists in the governmt of the State to date. That is the inglorious legacy Otuekong Idongesit Nkanga left behind.
16 In matters of probity and accountability, Otuekong Idongesit Nkanga is the least qualified to air or proffer opinion having been accused by EFCC of diverting the princely sum of #450 million (Four hundred and fifty million) meant for the 2015 presidential election which he served as coordinator in the State. Nkanga did not deploy the money as was directed neither did he disclose his receipt of this sum to the party or the then governor. He simply pocketed the entire sum. This is the same perfidious character that is finger- pointing and inciting NASS against the Minister and IMC. It is indeed a supreme irony and the height of hypocrisy for Nkanga to pontificate on matters of probity.
17 The sustained attacks on Senator Godswill Akpabio since his appointment as Minister has followed a well rehearsed pull him down (PhD) pattern for which the people of the region are known. But this obnoxious attitude of always seeking to destroy our best as Akpabio is, must be discouraged. Senator Akpabio must be encouraged by all well meaning citizens to continue his good works for the region.
18 We urge Mr President to ignore the rantings of these agents of retrogression . We guarantee that Senator Godswill Akpabio that we know will perform creditably in a manner that will align with the vision of Mr President’s administration. We wish to further assure that Godswill Akpabio is the best man for the job in the circumstance.
Long live the Niger Delta region.
Long live the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
Ikot Ekpene Senatorial District- Atuekong (Dr) Chris Akpan
Former Commissioner .
Uyo Senatorial District- Dr Emayak Ukpong
Former Chairman of Coucil and former Member, House of Representatives.
Eket Senatorial District-
Chief Honourable Alex Nyong
Former Chairman of Council.
Culled from THE NATION Thursday, May 21, 2020. Page 16
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