“No other governorship candidate in the state has been able to properly lay out his plans for our coastal communities like Senator Udoedehe.”
BY whatever standard you preview the politics of 2023 in Akwa Ibom State, it is clear that Senator John James Udoedehe is the only credible candidate remaining ion the race. With Senator OBA in jail and Akan Udofia disqualified from parading himself as APC candidate, the governorship race is a straight fight between Umo Eno of PDP and Udoedehe of NNPP.
But after undergoing a grueling five-month trial for allegedly forging his WASC certificate, Umoh Eno now appears as a damaged brand; a candidate nobody believes in and a suspicious character. The fact that Eno is a stooge of the incumbent governor and his siblings, notably the elder brother and sister, makes him particularly unattractive. In addition, a certain prophet who is based in the Western part of the country and is a major influence on the governor, is also the fiercely pushing the Eno project.
‘’Akwa Ibom people are not ready for another stooge. A stooge will either do the bidding of his master, or spend time and resources fighting the master’’, says Mr. Aniefiok Isat, a business man in Uyo.
But Senator Udoedehe has remained the only major governorship candidate in the state who has not been stained by a single scandal or embroiled in a court case or scandal. Besides, Udoedehe’s social welfare programs which are designed to tackle poverty, unemployment and hunger are resonating well with the people. Having reviewed the programs of Umo Eno and Udoedehe, I can categorically ascertain that the NNPP candidate, Senator John James Udoedehe has the best program for the coastal and oil-bearing communities of Akwa Ibom the state, in addition to the overall program he has for the rest of Akwa Ibom people. While Eno has barely mentioned the fishing and coastal communities of the state, Udoedehe has articulated the following agenda for them:
· Establishment of Akwa Ibom Oil-Producing Communities Development Commission (AKOPCDEC) to manage the derivation funds and implement specific developmental programs for the communities. Despite the huge derivation revenues that accrue to the state, the oil producing communities remain largely poor, neglected and desolate because these resources are either spent on grandiose, fancy projects in the cities or they are just stolen and frittered away. Creating a special purpose vehicle dedicated to investing these funds in the coastal areas will stimulate rejuvenation of the areas.
· Provide fishing boats, engines and equipment for Akwa Ibom fishermen to free them from acquiring this equipment on hire-purchase from exploitative businessmen. Unknown to many of us, our fishermen do not own the fishing boats, engine boats and the equipment they use in their trade. They hire these things from businessmen from the neighbouring state on outlandish hire-purchase terms. It is some kind of economic slavery which Senator Udoedehe has vowed to break.
· Work with our security agencies to enhance the security and safety of our maritime workers (fishermen) and improve the security of our waterways and rivers to check piracy and criminal activities. Piracy in our waters has become a major security and economic challenge to our people in the last several years, but the state government has done practically nothing to check it.
· Creation of Ministry of Erosion Control to check increasing problems of denudation in our coastal communities
No other governorship candidate in the state has been able to properly lay out his plans for our coastal communities like Senator Udoedehe.
On a visit to Eastern Obolo LGA recently as part of his Ward Tour, the NNPP candidate reiterated the above points to the people and noted that ‘’our coastal communities in Mbo, Oron, Eastern Obolo, Ibeno in addition to the oil producing communities in the other Local Government Areas like Mkpat Enin, Ikot Abasi, Esit Eket have no better partner in this race than me’’.
In addition, Udoedehe has proposed to implement a N31 Billion Stimulus package in which he would grant N1 million to 31,000 each across the state; implement an amnesty program that will take the youths out of crime and give them skills for employment or business.
Etim writes from Abuja
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