...Eket Senatorial District Strategic Leadership Forum for ONE
...Our Covenant with Obong Nsima Ekere for the governorship of Akwa Ibom State in 2019
The choice made by the Akwa Ibom people to entrust the governorship position of the state on the people of Eket Senatorial District made in 2015, was a choice made with enormous expectations and excitement in anticipation of a repeat of the superlative leadership performance Eket Senatorial District is noted for. The area holds the distinguished heritage of a line of transformational leaders, innovative in thinking, futuristic and dynamic in action.
This Senatorial District is home to late Brigadier Jacob Esuene, brilliant officer and gentleman, whose leadership, even in war time, was adjudged the best in his era in Nigeria. His legacies still dot the entire landscape of what was the former South Eastern State. The District also produced the world-class banker, leader extraordinary, Dr Clement Isong, who in only four years built REAL industries that were intended to transform the old Cross River State into an industrial hub in Nigeria. His legacies include the Sunshine batteries, Quality Ceramic, Quo Steel, Champion Breweries, among others. Our Senatorial District also sired the erudite scholar, astute politician and sagacious administrator, Prof. Eyo Ita, Deputy Premiere of Eastern Region, who when the occasion demanded, sacrificed his personal comfort and interests for the pride and identity of his people.
Also in the pantheon of our excellent leadership ancestry, is Honourable Justice Udo Udoma, eminent jurist of international repute, Justice of the Supreme Court of Nigeria, Chief Justice of Uganda and former Governor-General of that East African state; a lover of his people and patriot who saw tomorrow. Chief Uffot Ekaette, is another icon from Eket Senatorial District. This extraordinary administrator is a pride to Akwa Ibom State and a Nigerian that has served his fatherland with integrity and character. His service record include, Confidential, Secretary to former Head of State, General Yakubu Gowon; deputy governor of Akwa Ibom State and then crowned his service years with an audacious eight years unbroken tenure as the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), a record that is yet to be surpassed. Also in this class of excellent leaders was, Distinguished politician, Senator of the federal republic in the second republic, leader imbued with vision and refined statesmanship, late Senator Victor Akan, unarguably one of the finest of his generation, who was also from this blessed Senatorial District. It is, therefore, with pride in this heritage of natural leadership endowments, that we, the inheritors and carriers of these leadership traits, having taken a retrospective look at the last three years and eight months of the current administration of Gov. Udom Emmanuel in Akwa Ibom State, make the following Declarations and Proclamations:
1. THAT WHEREAS: The leadership mandate that Akwa Ibom people gave to Eket Senatorial District was to last, as is the current convention, for eight years, from 2015 to 2023. The incumbent governor, Mr. Udom Emmanuel, took this mandate on behalf of the district. Four years down the line, however, the disappointment and disillusionment have become palpable. Where hope once existed, despair has taken over; where aspiration was rife, lethargy now wring the yearning hearts of our people. Our growth has been arrested and strangled by crass ineptitude and the gross political and economic naivety of our current leadership. The visionary steps of our immediate past have become mired and entrapped in the debilitating cluelessness of a government lacking in experience and pedigree.
2. That we realize that Akwa Ibom people know that this is not Eket Senatorial District’s best. They know that embedded in our district is a pool of quality leadership that could propel economic and social prosperity for our state. Thanks to the All Progressives Congress for identifying a leader from Eket Senatorial District that could be trusted to replicate the essential Eket quality leadership; a leader who has been tested in the crucibles of public administration and found fit and proper for service. Thanks to the All Progressives Congress for throwing up Obong Nsima Ekere as their governorship candidate, a choice that would heal the wounds of the four unproductive years of the Udom Emmanuel leadership era.
3. That Obong Nsima Ekere being not a product of an emergency leadership recruitment was forged in the leadership furnace of the state, turning out an outstanding courageous leader, resilient, innovative, genuinely empathetic, and a pragmatic thinker.
4. Obong Nsima Ekere served as Deputy Governor of Akwa Ibom State between May 2011 - October 2012. Prior to that, he was the Executive Chairman of the Akwa Ibom Investment and Industrial Promotion Council, AKIIPOC, the state investment agency (2007 – 2012). He also served as Chairman, Ibom Power (2008 – 2011).
5. That At AKIIPOC, Obong Nsima Ekere conceived and implemented the first private sector gas-to-power project in Nigeria, an innovative strategy to convert natural gas into feedstock for power generation, as a public - private partnership with the Akwa Ibom State Government. That project led to the investment of more than $1billion of private capital in gas production and distribution facilities in Akwa Ibom State.
6. Obong Nsima Ekere took his leadership acumen a notch higher with his appointment as the Managing Director of the Niger Delta Development Commission, where he etched his name in gold as one bold leader that ensured that transparency and innovative reforms were introduced to achieve the core mandates of the intervention agency. He will be leaving a legacy of transformative leadership, where development in the 9 catchment states were aggressively pursued and achieved, while ensuring that International best practices in contract administration, corporate governance and institutional reforms are attained and maintained.
7. That as Akwa Ibom State draws nearer to the 2019 governorship election, we have taken a look at the political, social, and economic imperatives of our state. We have read and digested the Blueprint/manifestos of Obong Nsima Ekere (the only blueprint so far by any candidate in the coming governorship election), and we are thrilled by the forward-looking document that contains the five pillars of a new vision for our collective prosperity. We are excited about the transformational innovations for a sustainable indigenous grown industrialization, built around our people, who still possess the business acumen of the Utuks, the Inyangettes, and many other successful business entrepreneurs our state created in the past. We have faith in the desire for growth at the rural areas through the easing of funds to the local government councils for rural development. We are satisfied with the creative plans for a rebirth in education for our children, including bursaries for those in higher institutions; the empowerment prescriptions that would create economic prosperity for our women; the social protection plan for the most vulnerable and poor among us, including the aged, the physically challenged, the orphans, etc; the health sector plans for a healthy people; the actual realization of the MRO facilities at the Victor Attah International Airport and the dreams of the Ibaka industrial city, among other lofty plans for our state.
8. IT IS THEREFORE, for these and many more reasons that we the leaders and the great and enterprising people of Eket Senatorial District, joined by residents of our district, friends and admirers, have decided to pitch our electoral tents with Obong Nsima Ekere, governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), as the man we shall vote for as governor, to replace the current governor, Deacon Udom Emmanuel and complete the Eket eight years governorship cycle.
9. WE COVENANT with Obong Nsima Ekere that while we shall canverse for votes and vote for him and elect him as governor come March 2, 2019, he shall replicate and surpass the leadership contributions of our leadership heroes of the past. He shall lead Akwa Ibom with the fear of God, give Eket Senatorial District its due development, with the full realization that the district lays the proverbial golden eggs of the financial prosperity of the state. He shall bring about a government that cares; a government that would build bridges of understanding, faith and unity among the peoples of Akwa Ibom State.
Being a Pres Briefing by Chief Edet Nkpubre, Akwa Ibom South Senatorial District Strategic Leadership Forum
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