Emmanuel Confident of Returning as Akwa Ibom Governor 

Emmanuel Confident of Returning as Akwa Ibom Governor 

By Nseobong Okon-Ekong

Governor Udom Emmanuel of Akwa Ibom State has assured followers of the ruling  Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)  in the state that with level of his performance and the preparedness of the party, he was confident that he will return as governor and candidates of the PDP will do well in the impending national elections.

The governor encouraged supporters of the PDP not to be deterred by the provocative attitudes of the opposition All Progressives Congress (APC).

“The level of confidence here has no probability. We are talking about the biggest party in Africa,  that has units everywhere. There’s nowhere you enter in Nigeria and mention PDP and people will be lost. We have structures in all the units in  the country. The PDP is a party that has brought development into Nigeria. I’m not building on a probability. I believe it’s PDP or no other party. Unfortunately,  I don’t mention any other political party. I don’t know of any other outside PDP,” said Emmanuel to journalists who sought his opinion on the growing popularity of the APC in the state.

He said his administration has followed a blueprint that is delivering the dividends of democracy through a systematic method.  “The question is to determine at each point in time what you want. Now, I’m building secondary health care system. The tertiary health care system is beyond my control. I’m building world class secondary health care system. This is a little bit systematic in the way you handle it. We came here with a blueprint. The state is well organised. Things are structured. You can’t just do things by mere response or human intuition. It’s a planned and well-laid out system that we are running here.”

Admitting that he was distracted with legal issues challenging his emergence as governor,  he said he has since recovered and has performed well given the resources at his disposal.  “Unfortunately, politics in Nigeria is a little bit tough. In your first year as governor, you are in the tribunal, appeal court, Supreme Court. As you are trying to settle down to work,  the first tenure of four years is over.

You are already campaigning for another term. You are so distracted. You can’t just focus as a governor. If you are not careful, you can’t put anything in place. But people don’t know where we are going. Those greenhouses you see is to make sure I cultivate in our people the mindset that you can do this. Why buy 10 jeeps when two of those jeeps can give us 10 of those green houses? That’s all I’m telling people. There are a lot of things that we haven’t delivered that will be delivered and I’m making serious move to actually get it. Why did I promote a flour mill? Everybody eats either biscuit or bread, but people here go and deposit money either in Lagos or somewhere for flour. Imagine how long it takes to transfer flour down here. When it finally arrives, we find ways to cut corners and give people a substandard bread to eat.”

Having lost much time in the early days, trying to validate his mandate in court,  the Akwa Ibom State governor is determined to make a good impression.  He said,  “We are in a haste. We are trying to touch every aspect from infrastructure,  agriculture to industry. We are talking about electricity but we didn’t think of metres. That’s why we developed a metrering factory to bridge the gap. You see the quality of roads here, I’m not mincing words check the kilometre of roads we have done

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