•Governor Umo Eno
Akwa Ibom State governor, Pastor Umo Eno, says the inherent peace and unity experienced in the state has been his greatest achievement in the last two years of his administration.
Governor Eno was addressing guests during his 2nd year Anniversary State Banquet held at the Banquet Hall, Government House, Uyo.
The governor attributed the unprecedented peace and unity to God’s grace, love and the cooperation of the people of the state and charged Akwa Ibom people to continue to work in peace, love, unity and respect for one another, saying that political parties should be seen as platforms for election, after which comes governance.
“Whatever we have been able to achieve is because of the grace and faithfulness of God, and it is because of the cooperation of our people.
“For me, the greatest achievement is not in all those things you saw in the documentary, the greatest achievement is the peace that God has brought into this state, that is my greatest achievement.
“Like His Excellency, Otuekong Don Etiebet said, we know how this state used to be. It would be difficult for all of us to gather in this room because of political affiliations.
“Someone would die in a family and you cannot attend the burial openly so that they don’t think you are doing anti-party.
“We were made to think that wisdom resides in one political party. I want you all to understand that wisdom resides in all of us as Akwa Ibom people not political party.
“I thank God today that we can stay in one roof, we can discuss together, we can all contribute to governance, we can reach out to our brother and see political party only as a vehicle for election. And whoever God brings, he becomes the governor for all, and bring people together.
“Let’s continue to push, we must live for each other, learn to extend hands of fellowship to people. That is the truth, we cannot continue to do winner-takes-it-all. We need to bring people and learn how to work with the people,” he noted.
Speaking further, he expressed appreciation to his political god father and predecessor, His Excellency Deacon Udom Emmanuel for his vision, pursuit, resilience, and support that brought him to power.
He also appreciated all the past governors of the state for their respective contributions to the development of the state.
On his part, an elder statesman, Otuekong Don Etiebet described Governor Eno as a phenomenon, a spiritually-filled and an enigmatic leader, sent by God to serve Akwa Ibom in a critical time such as this.
He appreciated the Governor for his godly leadership role by reuniting the ethnic, social and political fragments of the state which, according to him, has brought an end to the era of political kidnappings and killings.
Otuekong Etiebet noted that as a compassionate leader, Governor Eno has won the heart of Akwa Ibom people given his pragmatic approach to governance in the state.
In their separate remarks, Senator Ekong Sampson, Senator Effiong Bob, former deputy governor, Obong Nsima Ekere, and state chairmen of the PDP, APC, and Blessing, Chairman of the Inter Party Advisory Council, congratulated the governor on a successful two years of impact which according to them, has motivated his endorsement for a second term by all the political parties in the state.
High points of the colourful and well attended event were the unveiling and presentation of a book, The Golden Footprint, chronicling his two years of impactful leadership and the presentation of National Health Ambassador Award to Governor Eno by the National President of Nigeria Association of Resident Doctors, Dr Ozundara Tope-Zenith.
The governor, in his response, highlighted his vision towards creating more medical tourism infrastructures to boost tourism development in the state and expressed his readiness to sign the international hospital agreement for the state-of- the-art international hospital project to be handled by a Turkey-based construction company.
