“YOU REJECTED THE GOVERNORSHIP SLOT OF AKWA IBOM IN 2015 BECAUSE I NOMINATED AN OKOBO MAN, BARR. EKPENYONG NTEKIM AND YOU OPENLY TOLD ME ‘OKOBO IS NOT ORO” – AKPABIO REPLIES ORO

SENATOR AKPABIO REPLIES ORO:

“YOU REJECTED THE GOVERNORSHIP SLOT OF AKWA IBOM IN 2015 BECAUSE I NOMINATED AN OKOBO MAN, BARR. EKPENYONG NTEKIM AND YOU OPENLY TOLD ME ‘OKOBO IS NOT ORO” – AKPABIO REPLIES ORO 

Ex Governor Godswill Akpabio addressing journalists in his Ukana country home on the allegation of Annang teaming up with Ibibio to marginalize Oro, said:

“I had twenty six meetings with Oron Think Tank and I told them that because you have Ibibio, you have Obolo, you have Oron, and twelve local government, that there’s no way we will say that we are zoning governorship position to only one ethnic group in Eket Senatorial District. The best I can do is, let us see whether we can share four, four. That is four years to one ethnic group and four years to the other. I told Oron, let us give first to the Ibibios who are much more than you in terms of number. After that you take.

“Oron Think Tank had twenty six meetings with me. From Lagos to Abuja, they’re all alive. Edunam, Okon Usung, all of them had meetings with me. Twenty six meetings. On the last day, I brought Udom Emmanuel and I told Udom Emmanuel, I’m sorry, you will do four years, after which you will decide whether you want to be a minister or you decide whether you want to be a senator or if you are interested in being CBN governor, we will push it, and he agreed.”

“When we went into the meeting, they rejected it and on the condition that Oro should start first. I said, so bring your candidate.

“If Oron should start the governorship in Eket Senatorial district because it is a plural senatorial district. Uyo Senatorial District has only one tribe with nine local government. So, if you are giving governorship to Uyo, it means you are giving it to Ibibio.

Annang here has eight local government. The other two are Ini and Ikono. So, you can say, in terms of ninety percent, is Annang, so if you are giving governorship, it is expected that Annang will take it, right?

“But in Eket Senatorial District, you have five local government of Oro, the population in totality is not so much as the population in quote of Ikot Abasi and Mkpat Enin. Mkpat Enin with fourteen wards. So, you have Ibibios, that is Mkpat Enin, you have Ikot Abasi and then you have Onna. And then you have Eket and Esit Eket. And then you have Eastern Obolo and Ibeno.

“So, I said, let us do. If the worst comes to the worst, lets us do four, four and do it this way…you do four years, Oron will take four years. We all agreed, but on the last day, Oron came with a big delegation, and came to me and I said, let us sign the agreement. And then the governor will then move in as the senator, or he will move in as a minister, depending on what he choose, and what happened? Oron rejected the position at the last minute. They told me that they can only go first, that if they don’t go& first, that this agreement has been rejected by Oro nation.”

“I looked at them and said, ‘Okay, set up a small committee, step outside and bring somebody for me or if you don’t want to bring somebody for me, I will bring somebody for you. Let me name my Attorney General, Ekpenyong Ntekim, they shouted in front of Felicia Bassey, Deputy Speaker that Ntekim is not from Oron. That Ntekim is from Okobo, that Okobo is not Oron. Are you hearing what I am saying? So, what would I have done more than that? Have you ever heard this before?

“But this is the truth, I am mentioning names. Go and ask Felicia Bassey, the deputy Speaker, Felicia, she walked out and started crying. They said that Okobo is not Oron, that since something is going to be given to Oron, that it must go to Oron, that Okobo is not Oron. So Felicia started crying. So they could not even agree on a candidate. That was when I said Udom Emmanuel go naw, since they don’t want it, go and do your two terms. And I made a statement saying that you will be the first governor in Nigeria to go for a second term, didn’t you people hear that statement? When they used it against me when I entered APC, I couldn’t come out to say that I didn’t say it because it was my voice. It was my voice, be careful of what you say. So, please, do not judge a man according to the season, you may be judging him wrongly.

Source: The Post Newspaper, 11 March 2020