Akwa Ibom State governor, Chief Godswill Akpabio, has called on the Nigerian media to focus on things that unite the country rather than concentrate on attacks of persons.
Chief Akpabio while fielding questions from newsmen in Uyo said: “There is no tin god in Akwa Ibom State. I believe a national newspaper should not personalise issues by calling people names, which does not reflect the person. It was quite an unfortunate and I hope they have learnt their lessons and focus on things that will unite the country and not use their paper for personal attack.
“I am happy that the state government had responded to the editorial, which was not a true reflection of who I am. People were even commenting on the change of the immediate past Secretary to the State Government, SSG, Mr. Umana Okon Umana, who has made history as the longest serving officer in this part of the world right from 1979 till date and had served the state meritoriously.
“So, making a change in that office is for the state to move forward. The former SSG made his intention known for his political ambition which the law states that any public officer aspiring for any political post has a right to resign to achieve that ambition.
“The state government making such changes should not attract editorial comment unless people are unduly interested in the affairs of others. Let people remove the log from their eyes before they remove the one in others’ eyes.”
He said: “This was never an issue except they had nothing more to write. I think they should rather write and commend nationally on global challenges”.
On the registration of All Progressive Congress, APC, he stated “I welcome the registration of APC and any other political party. The beauty of democracy is the opportunity given to all and sundry to partake in the democratic process and as for Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, we won’t want a one party state in Nigeria, rather we love opposition and we look forward with working with APC. And I can assure you that APC is just going to be like another political parties.
“PDP is fully attained and we are working hard to ensure that we rise to the occasion from the power sector to infrastructure, roads and bringing of industrialization such as the recent plans of Ibaka Deep Seaport in the state. And of course, you can see the various industries that have begun to return to Nigeria. Let us worry about governance and not the formation of political party, for it is not the beginning of a journey that matters but how to get to the end.”
