- An Akwa Ibom APC delegation in a recent visit to President Muhammadu Buhari cried to him to help the lot of members of the party in the state
- However, the delegation, led by a former petroleum minister, Don Etiebet, thanked the president for appointing Akwa Ibom people into several positions in the federal government
- The president, in reaction said that the federal government in 2019 will rehabilitate and convert the Ikot Ekpene-Aba federal highway into a dual carriageway
A delegation of the All Progressives Congress (APC) from Akwa Ibom on a visit to Aso Rock on Monday, September appealed to President Muhammadu Buhari to do his utmost in improving the condition of things for party members in the state.
Led by a former petroleum minister, Don Etiebet, the delegation was on a solidarity visit to the president, Premium Times reports.
READ ALSO: 2019: Ambode weighs options as Tinubu withholds support for Lagos governor
Senator Godswill Akpabio, the head of Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), Nsima Ekere, and the managing director of Oil and Gas Free Zones Authority (OGFZA), Umana Umana, were part of the visit.
The gathering was facilitated by the senior special adviser to the president on National Assembly matters (Senate), Ita Enang.
Etiebet said: “Your Excellency, Akwa Ibom State is presently a PDP controlled state,” Mr Etiebet, who spoke on behalf of the delegation, told the president.
“We pray that the federal government give some extra attention in the handling of the federal government’s social development programs, such as the school feeding, N-Power Employment and other possible avenues of giving life and warmth of government to our people as our members look like orphans as they look at the PDP state government implement these APC federal government poverty alleviation programmes without their proper participation.”
However, he told the president that the APC “has grown by leaps and bounds” in the state and that they were prepared to help him win the state in the 2019 presidential election.
The delegation commended the president for appointing Akwa Ibom people into several positions in the federal government, and also for the rehabilitation of some federal roads in the state.
The delegation also briefed the president on senator Akpabio’s defection from the PDP to the APC and other defections to the party.
He further said: “Akwa Ibom State over the past 19 years have been tagged as a PDP State but I want to tell you that with these latest decampments, Akwa Ibom State is now an APC State with promises of providing the focal point of APC in the South-South from now on. We will prove this very soon with the forthcoming general elections.”
In his reaction, President Buhari informed the delegation that the federal government in 2019 will rehabilitate and convert the Ikot Ekpene-Aba federal highway into a dual carriageway, adding that this was beside other major road projects in the state which was underway.
The president stated: “Thank you for appreciating the award of contract for the Dualization of Odukpani- Itu (spur to Ididep Itam) – Ikot Ekpene road in the initial contract sum of N54.17 Billion.
“We have provided N11 Billion in the 2018 budget for the award of the outstanding portion of the road in Akwa Ibom State and the federal ministry of power, works and housing has commenced the procurement process of this tranche.
“Two weeks ago, contract for the reconstruction of Abak- Ekparakwa- Ete-Ikot Abasi was awarded in the sum of N5.89 billion.
“The federal government has also provided for the Ibom deep seaport and city for which initial provision of N2.2 billion has been made in the 2018 budget.
“Again, contract for the construction and furnishing of the faculty of Law building at the main campus of the University of Uyo has been awarded in the sum of N873.1 million.”
Meanwhile, Boniface Akang, a chieftain of the APC in the state, on Tuesday, September 18, condemned the visit to the president, claiming that the delegation did not represent the original members of the ACN were absent.
PAY ATTENTION: Get the Latest Nigerian News Anywhere 24/7. Spend less on the Internet!
Akang said: “The original members of the party, those who were part of the ACN were not fairly represented in the delegation.”
He said that he does not believe the visit would help improve the electoral fortunes of the party ahead of the forthcoming general elections.
Meanwhile, NAIJ.com reported that Ekere had been urged by leaders of the APC in Akwa Ibom and the former governor of the state, Godswill Apkabio, to contest for the 2019 governorship election.
Led by Don Etiebet, a former minister of petroleum and the chairman of the party caucus in the state, during a rally on Tuesday, September 11, the APC chieftains in Eket gave Ekere a nomination form which was bought by them.
News Nigeria Today: Will Senators, Lawmakers’ Defection from APC Change Power in 2019? | NAIJ.com TV
Source: Naija.ng
