NO DOUBT IN UDOM’S CAPACITY

I HAVE NO DOUBT IN UDOM’S CAPACITY; HE IS AN HONEST MAN
- SENATOR NELSON EFFIONG.

Earlier today, January 21, while appearing on a local radio station in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, Senator Nelson Effiong who last week defected from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressives Congress (APC) made some wild and bewildering accusations against Governor Udom Emmanuel.

Last year, in an interview with Milestones magazine to mark Governor Udom Emmanuel’s one year in office, the same Nelson Effiong had celebrated Governor Udom Emmanuel as a blessing to Akwa Ibom State, and that he is “honest and a first class brain” who would “do great things by the time he finishes his second term” which now leads us to ask the Senator: Where are your values and principles? So because you have now defected to the APC, all the great leadership qualities you had ascribed to Governor Udom Emmanuel no longer exist? What a pity!
Below we present to Nigerians, word for word, Senator Nelson Effiong’s glowing characterization of Governor Udom Emmanuel and we urge you to judge the character of the man who has just defected to the other party.

I HAVE NO DOUBT IN UDOM’S CAPACITY
- Senator Nelson Effiong (Senator representing Eket Senatorial District)
Senator Nelson Effiong hails from the Oro extraction of Eket Senatorial District. He is the Senator representing Governor Udom Emmanuel. During the election, the people of Oro Nation were caught in a web of dilemma.

With growing agitation that it was the turn of the Oro people to produce the governor of the State, casting one’s political anchor with anybody from outside that region looked like political suicide, but Senator Nelson Effiong, a neo liberal, thought differently. He said when Udom was presented to the caucus, he saw him as a round peg in a round hole, especially in a time like this. He said that he had to jettison primordial consideration in the larger interest of the State, noting that today, he is vindicated. The Senator in this interview with Milestones crew, x-rays the reason for that political decision and other things. It is a gripping expose...

Distinguished Senator, you are a very critical political leader in Akwa Ibom State, and on April 11, Governor Udom Emmanuel was elected as Governor of Akwa Ibom State, could we know your role in that election?

Let’s start by saying that I am very very happy and thankful to God that we brought a person in the calibre of Governor Udom Emmanuel to lead Akwa Ibom after His Excellency, Governor Godswill Akpabio had left. When we were campaigning or clamouring for power to shift to Eket, we knew that Eket being the largest Senatorial District, had an array of good leaders that can fit into the shoes that Godswill had left behind, and luckily we found a man called Udom Emmanuel.

There were some doubting Thomases who felt that because he had just come new into politics that he would not be able to perform. But most of us who knew that Udom would perform knew that for a man like that to come from an established organisation like Zenith Bank, and after holding so many important positions, we knew that he would bring the experiences there to bear in the administration of Akwa Ibom State. Today we have been justified that assertion has come true; so we are very happy. I was a very critical member, a vocal one for that matter, in supporting Governor Udom Emmanuel to be the governor of Akwa Ibom State, and I have been justified. I am very happy about it.

Distinguished Senator, we must also recognize the fact that there had been grounds for agitation by the people of Oron who said it was their turn to take over the mantle on the consideration that the state stands on a tripod. How were you persuaded to move away from that line of thinking to join the Udom Emmanuel campaign despite the fact that he is not from Oron?

Thank you very much. Actually, by my orientation, I seem to lay less emphasis on where a person comes from. Agreed that Oron has not held the position of the governorship of Akwa Ibom State; unfortunately, the zoning in this country has been done on senatorial basis and within the Eket Senatorial District, Oron is still a minority. I was one of those who did not oppose the position going to other parts of Eket and because of that I had problems in Oron.

But a lot of people who listened to my argument came to see with me and I am very happy that the matter was resolved with the ceding of the senate slot to Oron for now; it is still my belief that an Oron man will be a governor sooner or later but there is a need for us to work in harmony, to co-operate with Governor Udom Emmanuel so that we would get more dividends of democracy. Even the governor himself has said that he is not a governor of ONNA, he is not a governor of Eket Federal constituency, he is a governor of of Akwa Ibom State; and that he is from Eket Senatorial District, and Eket Senatorial District is his home. From what he has done so far, I have been proven right because if you go to Oron, the first project Udom actually executed in Eket Senatorial District was in Oron. He has done more that twelve roads which were impassable and the roads are now very good. A lot of people in Oron are beginning to see wisdom in the position we took during the election, that Udom Emmanuel was the best material to govern Akwa Ibom for now.

You said when he came, you decided to support him because your perception was that he would perform, has he disappointed you?

No, he has not, absolutely not. When he came, I think the first time I had contact with him was during caucus meeting in Government House where the governor, Senator Akpabio introduced him to the caucus, and from the information we gathered about his past, I just knew that this was a round peg in a round hole, and Udom came to surprise me. I had good expectations that he would perform but he has surprised me because his performance is exceedingly excellent. You know, coupled with the fact that this is a man who has never been in politics, and during the campaigns I looked at him, the way he spoke, the way he was versed in the political intrigues, I just knew that this guy was a first class brain, and this is what Akwa Ibom needs.

Let me even go further to say that Akwa Ibom State has been very lucky in having good leaders since its creation. From Akpan Isemin of blessed memory to Idongesit Nkanga and co to Obong Attah, Chief Godswill Akpabio the uncommon transformer, and now Deacon Udom Emmanuel. I am very impressed with the slogan Udom adopted during his inauguration, “consolidating on and even surpassing superior performance.” That is a very well-coined phrase or statement, to sustain superior performance, because Godswill Akpabio came and defined performance like nobody else had defined it, and Udom has come to consolidate on it; so we thank God for Akwa Ibom.

You went around with him for campaigns, he had said that his vision for the state is industrialization, do you see him succeeding in that…

Absolutely, let us start by saying that Udom is coming to Akwa Ibom at a time the country as a whole has economic problem. The money is not coming as it used to come, but being an astute banker, this man has traversed the whole world trying to create an environment that will be sustainable by bringing in industries. Look at what he has done, he has gone to Israel to encourage them to come and establish a vehicle assembly plant, the refinery is almost kick-starting, the peacock paints is now in production and so if you look at this man, in the context of the economic recession we are experiencing, and he is able to do that, I think we should thank our stars that we have a leader. So I am very very satisfied with his performance, and I think by the time Udom finishes with his four years and goes for the second term which we have all agreed, you would see that Akwa Ibom would be thanking God for the good leader that He gave them.

What qualities does he have that you could say have stood him out as a very significant leader?
Number one, he is a very honest person. I don't know whether you have come in contact with him but the many occasions I have been in contact with him, if Governor Udom Emmanuel tells you he is going to give you this pen by three o'clock, if you don't call him, he will be the one to call you to tell you see the pen I told you; he is a very consistently honest person, which is what we need. Secondly, I don't know whether you have observed that this man is excellent in keeping to time.

He brought a new orientation in Akwa Ibom; if Udom says he is coming to a meeting by 10 o'clock, by quarter to 10, he is there, and a lot of people have admired him for that. So I think he has some sterling qualities in that direction. And then he is a very thoughtful person, he believes into Akwa Ibom State. Let me give you an example, one day he called me, we went for a function, I think in Ibesikpo. He called me and asked, Distinguished Senator, what happened, why is Tabasco Transport no more on the road? So I told him, Your Excellency, I was kidnapped, I don't know whether you are aware of that, and the kidnappers took Thirty One Million Naira from me before they released me. That was money I would have used in buying new buses.

In transport business, when the buses continue to breakdown, you lose passengers, so you inject new buses every six months but since they took that money I couldn't, and I jokingly told him that you bankers, your banks will not finance transport. So he told me he is giving me an assignment that Tabasco Transport was owned by an Akwa Ibom man, and was operated as a first class transport that he has ever seen; that he gave me an assignment to make sure that I resuscitate Tabasco which I am working on. And he has even allocated land for me to build Tabasco Transport headquarters in Uyo as I speak. So that is a man who wants the prosperity of his brothers in the state. He has constantly told the people of Akwa Ibom if you have an idea of what you can do, what you can produce, come let us discuss; he is going to create a platform for you to realize your dream; that is Udom for you. And I have been talking to brothers, it is not a question for you to go and look for non-existent civil service job, let us put our brain down and start thinking about what we can do. The governor is very willing to assist to make your dream come true if you are a creative person. So Udom is there, Udom is right as we say.
You talked about his excellent quality in management of resources, what do you think has given him this kind of leverage?

Exactly the reasons we adduced when we were presenting Udom to the public. All of us know that Zenith Bank is one of the best-managed banks in Nigeria. For us to have a man who rose to the rank of Executive Director, gathering all the experience, we knew, I had no doubt on my mind that this man would bring the experience to bare in the administration of of Akwa Ibom State. Look at what is happening in Nigeria; Udom is consistently paying salaries to workers even in the face of dwindling resources.

If I tell you the allocation they send to Akwa Ibom in the last six months you would be wondering how he manages to pay salaries. Okay, recently last week, the federal government came out with this loan issue, Akwa Ibom is one of the five states that have qualified for the bailout loan. We made a stringent condition attached to the loan, and you know when you have a top brass banker as the governor of the state, he would within a twinkle of an eye meet up the requirements for anything called loan. So, we have qualified and you would see what he is going to do with the loan because the man has vision for this state.
What area of governance has he impressed you the most?

Well, he has impressed me in almost all areas of governance. As I had earlier said, look at the issues of civil servants, have you heard any grumbling? No. Because it is very easy to please civil servants, pay their salary as at when due. Udom came, even with the pension arrears, starting from 2011 to date he cleared it, the few remaining pensioners he is making plans to clear them. No state has done that in the whole federation. Some states are owing even up to twelve months salary, not to talk of paying pensions. So, the man has done well. Is it in agriculture? You can see his foresight in some of the projects in agriculture. Is it in industrialization which he has promised? You can see it coming. So I think there is no particular area you can say this one is not going well. In the general administration of the state, the man is just too much, and we thank God; we are just very lucky.

Before now, it was popular to have the home front, the Abuja front; when the centre of power was in Lagos, we used to have the Lagos front. But that seems to have disappeared; how have you been able to achieve this that we don't have those kind of rancour anymore?

Yes, the reason is very simple; take for instance, the national assembly, all the thirteen of us who are in the national assembly today are the same family with Governor Udom Emmanuel. We are members of the same family. We came from the same stock. We had a leader which we still have till today, Chief (Dr.) Godswill Akpabio. He is our leader both at home and here. And he has been able to make sure that since we came to Abuja, Akwa Ibom caucus has been meeting constantly, brainstorming and the governor is always consulting with us on any he does. So there is no way there can be division. Take for instance, the congresses, we did in the state. While other states are having issues till today, Akwa Ibom does not.

The governor managed the thing well, all of us joined in making sure that his ideas were in consonance with our thinking. The congresses went peaceful. We formed our executives up to the state level; that is what can happen only when there is a unified family, and we have succeeded in doing that. We have to give thanks to our leader, Dr Godswill Akpabio; he is a man that is very rare to have. Whatever the governor is doing, he is consulting us here in Abuja, and every decision he is taking we are aware of it; that is why you can't have problems and you don't have political differences either, we are from the same family. We have all resolved that he is going for second term; no question about it. It is totally resolved by us here in the National Assembly and at home that Udom Emmanuel must do second term.

If you are to rate Udom within the scale of ten, what will you give him?
Within the available resources, within the economic climate that we have now, I will score him 9.9.
Can you give a concise summary of the man; the Udom Emmanuel you have known so far?
Udom Emmanuel is an astute administrator, an intelligent administrator, a lover of Akwa Ibom and a man who is destined to succeed.

Lastly Sir, he was 50 recently. What is your wish for him at 50 and what are the expectations ahead?
I wish him many more years of work and performance and years of sacrifice for Akwa Ibom. I wish him long life, I wish him happiness. At 50, I want to tell him that life is just beginning for him. I am looking at him completing his second term and going forward politically to continue to work for Akwa Ibom. I wish him long life, I wish him luck. I wish the wife too long life and luck to support the husband because Martha is our First Lady, our mother and I want to thank her for supporting our governor, and in the same vein, I want to ask Akwa Ibom people to continue to support the governor, to support all his programmes and projects so that he will take Akwa Ibom to greater heights. With that I wish him happy birthday, happy 50th anniversary, the golden man.

Well, what would you say to Akwa Ibom people as a senator representing a part of the State?
I want the people of Akwa Ibom generally, not just Eket Senatorial District to have faith in the country called Nigeria. Agreed that we in the PDP are not in the centre, a lot of challenges in the country now – security situation, economic challenges and what have you. I want our people not to lose hope. We should continue to stay together and support our governor in order to manage the little resources available. I want to tell them that even though we are not controlling the centre, we would try our best to make sure that we give them the dividends of democracy. It is not been easy as it used to be when we were controlling the centre; now we are called opposition, and you know the problem that opposition normally faces. We will make sure that those problems we met, we will surmount them to make sure that we succeed in making Akwa Ibom the centre stage of this country. I want to thank the people for their support and prayers, and to tell them that they keep hope alive.
Thank you Sir.
Thank you!