PRESS RELEASE

RE: AKPABIO: THIS SHOW OF ARROGANCE MUST STOP

The attention of the Godwsill Akpabio Campaign Organization has been drawn
to a hollow and illogical press release patented by one Otuekong Emmanuel
Ibiok with the designation of spokesperson of Divine Mandate Campaign
Organization and entitled as above.

Ordinarily, our Organization would have dismissed the poorly conceived and
wilfully distorted document but the moral burden of stating the truth at
all times behooves us to issue this rebuttal to guide the unsuspecting
members of the public to the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the
truth.

Since the visit of the First Lady of the country, Her Excellency Mrs. Aisha
Buhari, the State Government and People's Democratic Party who are miffed
and disgruntled by the feat of bringing such a high profile personality to
the State, have in their frenzy, inundated public space with worrisome
falsehood, innuendos and outright lies.

As a Campaign Organization fully committed to decent campaigning, free and
fair elections and having a clear understanding of the workings of
government, especially on protocol matters, we wish to state as follows:

That our principal and spouse having previously occupied those high offices
in the land have ramrod respect for the Office of Governor and First Lady
thus will not  breach protocol to discomfit the occupants of the office
irrespective of the obvious irreverent disposition of the current occupants
to them.

That the visit which was occasioned by a collaborative Empowerment
Programme by the Office of the First Lady of the Country, National
Directorate of Employment(NDE) and Senator Godswill Akpabio for the
empowerment of about 11,600 women and youths, was more of a Party event
than a State visit.

That despite this reality, the role of the First Lady of the State in
receiving the First Lady of the Nation was not in dispute and at no point
whatsoever was any plan conceived to deny her from performing that role.

That what happened was a conflict between the overzealous  security and
Protocol Team of the First Lady of the State and the highly disciplined
Protocol Team of the First Lady of the Country.

That the security/protocol team of Her Excellency, Mrs. Martha Udom
Emmanuel demonstrated brazen overzealousness fuelling speculations that
they came with a premeditated plan to disrupt, mar or abort the event.

That the fracas which caused the First Lady to retreat to the aircraft was
part of the grand plot by the State Government in active collusion with
their co-conspirators to abort the programme and embarrass the Nation's
First Lady, Senator Godswill Akpabio and the All Progressive Congress.

That nobody whatsoever, including Senator Akpabio who was far away from the
melee tried either directly or by proxy to prevent the First Lady of the
State from performing what Ibiok has described as statutory role as clearly
shown in the pictures uploaded on the social media.

That having failed to realize their sinister intention, they are trying to
turn the table with an agenda of persecution complex to draw public
sympathy. But let it be stated that Akwa Ibom people know better and would
not be hoodwinked into their obnoxious gambit.

The people know that Senator Godswill Akpabio and his wife, Her Excellency,
Mrs. Ekaette Unoma Akpabio are law abiding citizens and Christian faithful
who live in strict compliance to secular and religious tenets.

They know that the allegation that Mrs. Akpabio struggled to usurp the role
of the First Lady of the State is a ruse,  unfounded, laughable, absurd and
that the Distinguished Senator and the wife who are household names in the
country do not need to struggle for recognition in the State.

They know and are aware that neither the Office of the First Lady of the
State or the State Government had any plans for the visit of the First Lady
of the Country as there was no publicity as expected at any level to
indicate such preparedness.

The people know that their current actions are signs of frustration arising
from the impending rejection at the polls next year and the reality of
their return to their second addresses through their touted ''chartered
flight".

The people who have watched their hypocrisy are wondering why the same
people who refer to the husband of the First Lady with uncharitable
expression like cloned Jubril from Sudan, are falling over themselves to
accord the wife a grandiose reception including the provision of vehicles
and a banquet in her honour but to which the Nation's First Lady outrightly
rejected. Perhaps this was why Her Excellency, Aisha Buhari noted that with
the zealousness exhibited in the efforts to receive her by the State
Government and the First Lady, she is sure that the State governor and the
wife would soon join APC.

The people know that the poorly scripted press statement by Emmanuel Ibiok
calling on Senator Akpabio to apologize to the Akwa Ibom State Government
is a mere grandstanding designed for distraction.

They know that if anyone deserves apology, it is the Nation's First Lady,
Senator Akpabio and Unoma Akpabio and not the other way round because the
overzealous of the  Protocol Team of Martha Udom Emmanuel who tried to
disrupt the event were carrying out the instructions of the State
Government.

The people know that the likes of Emmanuel Ibiok who are obviously
incapable of deep thinking and reflection are the problems of Governor Udom
Emmanuel. With such characters around him, the governor's problems must
continue to grow in geometrical proportion.

The Godswill Akpabio Campaign Organization wishes to thank Akwa Ibom people
for turning out en masse to receive the First Lady. It wishes to reiterate
that its principal, Senator Godswill Akpabio would continue to work for the
interest of the State and its people even in the face of provocation as
being currently witnessed.

The Campaign Organization calls on Akwa Ibom people to continue to support
the Buhari Administration in its efforts to build a viable economic
foundation while preparing to vote out the incompetent administration that
has bedeviled the State in the past three and a half years with little or
nothing to show.

SIGNED: SENATOR GODSWILL  AKPABIO CAMPAIGN ORGANIZATION