FINALLY, AKPABIO REPLIES THEM.
MY SERVICE IS CAST IN STONE
A Speech delivered by the Senate Minority
Leader, His Excellency, Senator Godswill Obot
Akpabio, CON, on the Occasion of the award of
Best Governor of Akwa Ibom State bestowed
on him by Mboho Mkparawa Ibibio on
November 7, 2015
I invite all Akwa Ibom people to share the
fraternity of this moment. In giving this Award
to me, Mboho Mkparawa Ibibio, has renewed
the faith of all right thinking Akwa Ibom
people in the unity of Akwa Ibom State. They
have fanned the embers of the fire of our
brotherhood into an inferno. Those who sought
to quench that fire with the waters of
ethnicity, tribalism and divisiveness should
awaken to the hope of today and realize that
blood is still thicker than water. The
International President of Mboho may God
bless you. May God bless the leadership and
membership of Mboho and reward your
labours of love for Akwa Ibom State.
Mboho Mkparawa Ibibio you have renewed my
faith in humanity. I have watched helplessly as
some brethren lose their heads and blame it on
me. I have been lied about, yet I refused to
deal in lies. I have met with treachery and
betrayal and treated both impostors just the
same. I have heard the truth twisted by knaves
to score cheap political points. But deep within
me, I know that Akwa Ibom people know my
heart and appreciate that I did my best as their
servant for eight years.
I came into office in 2007 with the simple
prayer that “God’s will should be done in Akwa
Ibom State.” By His bountiful mercies, we won
many awards and accolades from within and
outside Nigeria. But this award by Mboho is
special. It is special because it comes over six
months after I left office. It is special because
it comes from one of the most respected
socio-cultural organizations in Nigeria. It is
special because it comes from my brothers
and sisters. It is special because it comes as a
bolt of light to clear the cauldron of darkness
foisted on us by mischief makers.
Two thousand years ago, a howling mob,
inebriated with the spirit of envy took a
righteous man to judgment. Not one person
spoke in His defence. I have always wondered,
“Where was Lazarus who he raised from the
dead? Where were Lazarus’s sisters and
Lazarus’s family? Where was the widow woman
whose son was raised from the death, and her
son? Where was blind Bartimeous whose sight
was restored? Where were the five thousand
men he fed with five loaves of bread and two
fishes? What of the four thousand he did the
same thing to? What happened to the ten of
thousands that he affected with his divine and
Godly life of service and doing good?” I will tell
you where there were. There were all in Israel.
Distinguished ladies and gentlemen, the
majority always have this uncanny ability of
burying their heads in shame at the actions of
the wicked – instead of raising up their heads
and lifting up their shoulders to confront
wickedness. It was in recognition of this that
the Rev Dr Martin Luther King, Jr. lamented
“We will have to repent in this generation not
merely for the hateful words and actions of
the bad people but for the appalling silence of
the good people.”
Why do the good people keep silent? I do not
know but I take solace in the scripture “fret
not thyself because of evil men, neither be
thou envious at the wicked; for there shall be
no reward to the evil man.” The good people
did not fret because of the evil men who
crucified our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ.
Today the memory of the evil men is crafted in
the petals of history as villains. The evil men
can have their day, but the good people will
eventually have their say and history will
vindicate the just.
Today the good people, as reflected in this
patriotic association, Mboho Mkparawa Ibibio,
have had their say and history has vindicated
me. They have declared me the Best Governor
in our dear state. Mboho has always tried to
stay above the murky waters of politics, and
remain the conscience of our state. Mboho has
proven by its deeds and utterances to be blind
to ethnicity and nepotism. That is why as the
Governor of Akwa Ibom State, I did all I could
to give Mboho a new lease of life.
As Governor I did a lot for people and
organizations. But like the one leper out of ten
that Jesus healed, Mboho has come back to say
thank you on behalf of Akwa Ibom State. The
seed of appreciation you have sown today shall
cause you to be appreciated as a group and as
individuals.
Some drive on the roads we built, drive over
the flyovers we constructed and tell the media
that Akpabio did not do anything. Some take
their children to the Tropicana Entertainment
Centre, grant an interview and claim that “they
cannot point to one single thing I did in
office.” Some use the Ibom International
Airport (which we met at site clearing level,
and completed) to travel to Abuja and file
petitions that I did not do anything in Akwa
Ibom. Should we blame them? I dare say no.
God says in the Holy Bible that He will, “Make
the heart of this people fat, and make their
ears heavy and shut their eyes; lest they see
with their eyes and hear with their ears and
understand with their heart, and turn again
and be healed.” God does not want them to
turn again and receive healing from envy and
mischief making.
Their hearts are fat, their ears heavy and their
eyes shut. That is why they cannot see the
Godswill Akpabio International Stadium which
we built and which is one of the best stadia in
the world. That is why they cannot see the
Ibom Specialist Hospital. That is why they
cannot see the Ibom E-Library. That is why
they cannot notice that the drainage problem
we solved in Itu and Abak LGA’s with our
underground pipe-jacking drainage system.
That is why they cannot see our free and
compulsory education and the tripled
enrolment it has. That is why they cannot see
the Ibom Gas plant. That is why they cannot
see the Sheraton by Four Points in Ikot Ekpene.
That is why they cannot see the Akwa Ibom
State University. That is why they cannot see
the New Governor’s Lodge, the new
Government House Banquet Hall, the new
Deputy Governor’s Lodge etc. That is why they
cannot see all the things we did which are too
numerous to mention.
Let me say here that the events of my last few
years in office which culminated in the election
of His Excellency Mr Udom Emmanuel as the
Governor of Akwa Ibom State were miraculous
and beyond my control. His performance in
government justifies that his mandate is
divine. We should all be proud of him. I seize
this opportunity to urge all Akwa Ibom people
to continue to support his administration. Let
us keep him in our thoughts and prayers.
Once again I thank the President and executive
of Mboho Mkparawa Ibibio for this great
honor and dedicate it to God Almighty and to
the good people of Akwa Ibom State. It
certainly would spur me to give our state
better representation in the hallowed
Chambers of the Senate. My service to this
state is cast in stone and no nothing shall
separate me from the divine call to do my
utmost for our state.
Thank you and God bless you.
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