Akwa Ibom has every reason to celebrate prevailing peace, Emmanuel insists

Governor Udom Emmanuel has said Akwa Ibom citizens have every reason to celebrate the 2019 Christmas on account the prevailing peace in the state since 2015.

He made the observation during the Akwa Ibom Christmas Carol 2019 in Uyo at the weekend.

The governor stressed that the people had to be thankful to God for averting the “planned war and insecurity in the state”, noting that the state is, instead, “witnessing the evolution of industries and world-class infrastructure and amenities.”

Emmanuel submitted that he was a “great example of God’s manifold blessings, love, and grace, as one with God is a majority.”

He added: “By this time last year, the atmosphere in this state was pregnant with a lot of manufactured uncertainties, several doomsday scenarios, and hair-raising predications.

“The political space was filled with unnecessary tension because a few people had ascribed to themselves the monopoly of God and the repositories of power and might.

“A political contest that should be based purely on the capacity to persuade people predicated on a set of ideas and achievements was reduced to invocation of sceptre of violence, and some people had boasted that the state and our people will witness what Adolf Hitler did to the people of Poland during the Second World War.”

The governor further stated: “The desire by some of these agents of death was to unleash an orgy of violence in our state and cause our people to stay at home and not to exercise their primary civic responsibly of freely electing their elders.”

He, however, expressed adoration to the “Only God who made the election not only the most peaceful, free and credible, but Akwa Ibom people trooped out and waited patiently in the long queues to cast their votes and thereafter formed a human shield around their votes.

“The security agencies that certain individuals had boasted would do their biddings allowed the will of the people to stand.”

Emmanuel went on: “The election tribunal sitting in Uyo affirmed the overwhelming will of our people in me to continue leading them as their servant–leader. The Appeal Court, sitting in Calabar, also followed suit and again in a unanimous decision, affirmed my victory. Just two days ago, the Supreme Court, also unanimously affirmed my victory.”

He lauded the judiciary for deepening democracy in the country, describing that arm of government as the last bastion for the common man.

He, therefore, extended a hand of fellowship to his political opponents for the sustainable development of the state.

Earlier in his message, the General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG), Pastor Enoch Adeboye, noted that God was in Akwa Ibom State, adding that he does not go to where God is not found.