WE REJECT SERVITUDE AND THOSE WHO WANT TO TURN BACK THE HAND OF CLOCK

WE REJECT SERVITUDE AND THOSE WHO WANT TO TURN
BACK THE HAND OF CLOCK

- BY HIS EXCELLENCY, GOVERNOR UDOM EMMANUEL


FELLOW AKWA IBOMITES,
Almost three decades ago, our God, in His infinite mercies,
hearkened to the dream of our ancestors, and blessed us with
a state. Our fathers having considered the history of this
blessed state, the faith of our ancestors and the
faithfulness of God hailed this land as the Land of Promise.

It was their belief that this land holds the promise of justice
for everyone. It was their belief that this land holds the
promise of equality for everyone. It was their belief that this
land holds the promise of prosperity for everyone. It was
their belief that this land holds the promise of reviving and
rewriting the Nigerian story.
Yesterday that promise was put on trial at the Court of
Appeal sitting in Abuja and suffered a miscarriage of justice.

It was not the first time that promise was challenged;
neither would it be the last. A few years back, we were
denied oil revenue by a curious injustice known as the
onshore/offshore dichotomy. But we overcame. We were
subjected to servitude. But we overcame. Concerning this
attempt to annul our hopes and aspirations and return us to
the days of servitude, we shall also overcome.
The judgment of that Court did not only challenge your right
to elect your leaders, it challenged our right to rebuild our
land and to pursue our happiness without having to sell our
commonwealth to those who do not wish us well.
While we affirm our faith in our judicial processes, we reject
completely a judgment, which rested on media propaganda,
and substantially deviated from standard norms and
practices in Courts of Appeal. We refuse to believe that the
fundamentals of justice have been so eroded that a people
can be brazenly raped and denied their rights to choose their
leaders according to their free will. We are not afraid of a
rerun but we would not allow a judgment which would pose a
dangerous precedent in the annals of our history stand
unchallenged. It would be a callous disservice to the course of
justice in our nation. Consequently, we will exercise our
Constitutional rights by appealing the judgment at the
Supreme Court.
Neither our state nor the promise of this state is for sale to
the highest bidders. We will not sacrifice our commonwealth at
the altar of personal ambitions. We will not foreclose our
children’s future because of the inordinate ambitions of some
Sanballats. The future of Akwa Ibom people is greater and
more important than anybody’s ambition.
On April 11, you made a solemn commitment and showed your
fidelity to the Divine Mandate. We painted a vision of the
future for you and you believed in us and entrusted your
destinies in our hands. You rewarded us with a clear and
decisive mandate. We must protect that mandate.
As the Custodian of the hopes, aspirations and dreams of this
generation of Akwa Ibomites; as the current holder of the
Divine Trust which binds our destiny in eternal covenant to
the God of our fathers; as an instrument of God’s plans and
purposes for our generation, I solemnly declare to your dear
brothers and sisters – the great Akwa Ibom people that the
mandate you freely gave me six months ago continues to rest
in the Secret Place of the Most High. It rests there because
it was a Divine Mandate and I intend to keep it in trust for
you.
Let me restate before God and the blessed people of this
State that I came with a clean heart to serve God and my
State with every ounce of energy in me. Be rest assured
that, by God’s grace, what you freely gave, God will protect
with the God-inspired zeal.
We know that in any fair contest between light and
darkness, light will always win; and in any contest in our
State, Divine Mandate will always triumph. Akwa Ibom people
will always win and put those who collaborate with outsiders,
who covet our resources, to shame. We are not afraid of any
re-run, because our people are solidly behind us.
For too long, our people were looked down upon; we were seen
as gatemen, cooks, housemaids and houseboys. The same
people who today want to take your mandate were those who
collaborated with the people who now wish to return you to
those houseboys and maids status. We are not ready to
return to those sad days because affliction shall not arise a
second time.

While we are chasing the dreams of Akwa Ibom people and our
posterity, they are chasing their own selfish dreams. Do not
believe the satanic propaganda that those who wish to
mortgage your commonwealth have been spreading in their
local tabloids. I am firmly in charge of this State as your
Governor and by the special grace of God, will remain your
Governor for the next four years and beyond.
Those who oppose my administration have claimed that we are
an appendage of the last administration. That is not true. We
are an improvement on the last administration. The last
administration took us out of Egypt to the Jordan River. This
administration is taking us across the Jordan River into the
Promised Land. This administration is here to lift us up above
those people who once underestimated us.
It is a sad commentary on our politics that people who were a
part of the last administration for seven of its eight years
would now turn around and demonize the administration. They
claim that the administration was wasteful, irresponsible,
corrupt etc. Such talk cannot and will not fool Akwa Ibom
people. When they lie to you, ask them the source of their
wealth, and what investment they made to become wealthy
and super-rich.

I wish to end this broadcast by appealing for calm. I remain
in charge of this state as your Governor and I pledge to
continue to work to uplift your condition. Do not be fooled by
lies you will be fed by their propaganda machine. The people
of Akwa Ibom state will reject a return to servitude; we are
a proud and great people who have decided to ‘dakkada’ and
claim our rightful place in the boardroom of the Nigerian
enterprise. We reject servitude and those who want to turn
back the hand of clock. God bless Akwa Ibom state and its
great people.
BEING TEXT OF A BROADCAST BY HIS EXCELLENCY, MR
UDOM EMMANUEL, GOVERNOR OF AKWA IBOM STATE ON
THE APPEAL COURT RULING IN ABUJA, DECEMBER 19,2015