THE FULL TEXT OF GOVERNOR AKPABIO'S SPEECH ON THE 23RD OF SEPT. 2015

THE FULL TEXT OF GOVERNOR AKPABIO'S
SPEECH ON THE 23RD OF SEPT. 2015
Akwa Ibom Online with Akwaowo Tom
13 hrs ·
Nigeria's Senate Minority Leader Godswill
Akpabio Speaks from Uyo; Gives Reasons Why
Ibom Specialist Hospital is not Operational
The Minority Leader of the Senate, Senator
Godswill Akpabio was recently involved in an
auto-crash which led to him being flown abroad
for treatment. After spending over three weeks
outside the shores of the country, Chief Akpabio
returned to the country to a rousing welcome.
He stormed his home state on Wednesday, Akwa
Ibom and joined the state governor, Udom
Emmanuel in launching a new campaign
# Dakkada . At Akwa Ibom International Stadium,
venue for the 28th anniversary of the state, he
used the opportunity to speak on several
important and interesting issues such as the DSS
invasion of the state’s government house, his
accident experience and the much talked about
20th anniversary Hospital. IFREKE NSEOWO
brings excerpts for CONNOISSEUR…
Akwa Ibom isongo (4 times), nto (children of)
Udom Emmanuel isongo, iban (women of) Udom
Emmanuel isongo, ntokeyen (kids of) Udom
Emmanuel isongo, ikpo owo Akwa Ibom mmino
uyio ooo.
Aying ami ade (my name is) Godswill Obot
Akpabio. By the grace of God and your prayers
and the permission of my governor, Udom Gabriel
Emmanuel, and his dear wife, I am able to attend
this function today.
Your Excellency, thank you for permitting me to
come in slightly behind schedule as a result of
the occurring circumstances. The governor has
given me a gift through God. God gave me life,
God sustained my life, and my life will never be
extinguished until it is time. When the governor
told me that we must celebrate Akwa Ibom at
28, he did not tell me he was planning to give
me a surprise after coming back from the land of
death.
When that accident happened on the 1st of
September (2015), I was rushing in the morning
to join my daughter who was ill in her school
abroad and when it happened I lost
consciousness and all I shouted was God take
care of my children and my people. But
surprisingly I woke up at the National Hospital in
Abuja, and within one hour after regained my
consciousness, I saw His Excellency, Udom
Gabriel Emmanuel sitting by my side.
I was moved to tears. When we sang the song
together, that Udom was right, Udom was just,
Udom was correct, Udom was the best, we were
led by the Holy Spirit. Let today’s celebration be
a lesson to all states of the federation. Nobody
should attempt to impose himself on others. If
God does not give you leadership, no matter how
wealthy you are, no matter how connected you
are, no matter how mischievous you are, no
matter how tribalistic you are, no matter how
rich you think you are, you will never get there.
Udom Gabriel Emmanuel, from birth God said you
will lead Akwa Ibom State and today you are the
Governor of Akwa Ibom. Thank you for standing
by me. For the whole of Akwa Ibom people, this
is your former governor, Godswill Akpabio. And
I’m here with your former First Lady, Eka Esit
Mbom, Ekaette Unoma Godswill Akpabio.
Today, in the year 2015, in September 23rd, what
is the matter? The matter is Martha Udom
Gabriel Emmanuel. We have handed over the
women of Akwa Ibom State into the able hands
of Udom Gabriel Emmanuel and Martha and she
will sort out your matters. The matter is about
empowerment, the matter is about love, the
matter is about service.
Udom, let me stand since God has given me life
on this day in front of former governors, in front
of the deputy, speaker, former speakers, party
chairman and others who support you, who pray
for you, to thank you for being a man of your
words.
On 29th May (2015), you pronounced that the
resolution of the Akwa Ibom State House of
Assembly passed on the 6th of November (2014)
shall come to fruition. Today, you have unveiled
the Godswill Akpabio International, best designed
stadium in the whole of Africa, the Nest of
Champions.
I assure you, that through your ingenuity, you will
put this place to use. A lot of champions will
come out of here. Oh, how I wish I could kick
football again. I had started thinking of how to
train here to make dollars for Akwa Ibom people.
Let me commend you for the award given to you
in United States of America, in a United Nations-
backed ceremony. Not many governors in Africa
have had such honour. Look at the time, under
just 100 days in office, you have been
pronounced by the world community as the most
focused governor out of the 36 governors in
Nigeria.
Why should I not be proud as an Akwa Ibom child
to have a governor to be so honoured? Why
would they not honour you? In less than no time
you solved a puzzle that I could not solve in 8
years. You brought back Peacock Paint industry,
it is working, it is working, it is working. Udom, I
will ask you how you did it. The APC factory has
taken off, the LED factory has taken off, Becko
Group of companies are going on in spite of the
lean resources. You have continued to bring
foreign direct investments to Akwa Ibom, you are
attracting attention to Akwa Ibom, you are
making Akwa Ibom a destination for industries,
you are creating job opportunities for our
children, you are showing that we were right in
electing you as the governor of Akwa Ibom
State. To God be the glory. Oh, Udom Gabriel
Emmanuel. Oh, the people of Akwa Ibom State.
Oh, God’s own people, they have the right to
thank God.
For me, I came to tell you your prayers are
working. The wishes of the enemy has been
defeated. All the newspapers in Akwa Ibom
State, tomorrow your headlines should be
“Akpabio rises again”, “Akpabio rises again”. Why
will I not rise again when the governor has
launched a very significant project in the state
today, “Dakkada”. Dakkada kpong gossip,
dakkada kpong tribalism, dakkada kpong
distraction, dakkada kpong Pull-him-down
syndrome, dakkada and face development,
dakkada and face progress, dakkada and rise to
the glory of God, dakkada and rise to your
greatest potentials. I am here to prove that I
have risen again. Udom, thank you for this
project. We will follow you. We will stand side-
by-side with you. Don’t listen to stories. Akwa
Ibom is full of deceit. They did not even know
how close we are. By the time you came as
governor, never in my life did I have an account
with you. Uptill now, I’m yet to meet your father.
I don’t know your mother. I don’t know your
father. Your father is late? oh, accept my
sympathies. Your mom (late)? Oh, I didn’t know.
They said you are my account officer. They said
you are the one keeping millions of dollars for
me. They raided even your government house to
collect some of the money, but they did not find
anything. The picture they are circulating was a
picture taken in Iraq in 2011. That picture is on
google. Anybody who has his computer now
should google, look at your phone and google you
will see that picture. That picture of the stack of
dollars was in Iraq in 2011/2012, never in Akwa
Ibom State. If we have such money would I not
build something greater than this (stadium)? Will I
not build air-conditioners in all the streets so
that when you are walking as an Akwa Ibom
child you don’t need to fan yourself.
The enemies will never shame the state. Let me
place on record the support of the president,
President Buhari who did something extra
ordinary. The president called the hospital that I
was in London. He called the hospital line, and
said put me through to the Minority Leader of
the Senate who is in your hospital. And they
connected him. The room number was Room
215. And he spoke with me. He said, Akpabio we
are praying for you. Insha Allah, it shall be well
with you.
Shortly after the president’s call, I received a call
from Abba Kyari, the new Chief of Staff and he
said hold on for the Vice President of Nigeria.
Vice President Osinbajo, he spoke with me and
he prayed for me. He said I’m an anointed child
of God, you will come back alive to this country,
you will not die. The Senate President also
called. Almost all dignitaries in Nigeria called.
But who made it possible for me to even get out
of here? It was my governor, Udom Gabriel
Emmanuel.
Udom, when people are talking about the
Specialist Hospital, they should go there and find
out, even the CT (Computed Tomography) scan
that I saw in London is not up to the one that
you have in Uyo. That is the one they call 64
slides. Udom, the one that you have here is 640
slides. Ten times in magnification of what you
have in Europe.
Why has the hospital not taken off? It is because
the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria
expects to register anybody who wants to work
as a doctor in Nigeria. You cannot go to Britain
and work in Britain unless you pass through the
procedure. Because, at the same time
Immigration must give you the necessary
resident permit for you to bring in those doctors
and those doctors must in turn have at least 2 to
3 people with them in order to pass technology
to them. We are not going to bring in people to
work here forever. They must handover to
indigenous skilled manpower trained by Udom
Gabriel Emmanuel.
You have assured your people, I’m sure you will
tell them that in less than one month from today
the processes will be completed. When I was ill
(I don’t pray to be ill), if I were to be ill next time
I’m sure instead of flying me 6 hours to London,
they will bring me 50 minutes into Akwa Ibom
International Hospital and I will be very proud to
come here and thereafter stand in front of you.
Oh, my people. To God be the glory.
Thank you for this honour, thank you for
launching #Dakkada. We shall rise, we assure
you. Do not be afraid of propaganda. Your
election was conducted by God, if you do it 10
times you will win 10 times. And I assure you as
long as the Lord liveth, your election will be
sustained because it was sealed in heaven. I did
not know you, Akwa Ibom people knew you, the
corporate world knew you. God knew you, that
for a time like this He will bring somebody who
will salvage us, who will bring industries, who will
sustain what we’ve got, who will give us light,
who will create employment opportunities and
who will be a shining star and that shining star is
in front of me today. Thank you my governor, I’m
very proud to be your subject. May God bless all
Akwa Ibom people.