Again, APC gov candidate says Tinubu will make Akwa Ibom look like Lagos

The governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Akwa Ibom State, Akanimo Udofia, has again said that the party’s presidential candidate, Tinubu ballwill transform Akwa Ibom, and make the South-south state look like Lagos State.

Mr. Tinubu, from 1999 to 2007, was the governor of Lagos, the commercial capital of Nigeria, and is considered the most energetic among the 36 states.

The campaign claims he is responsible for development and progress in the south-west state and has used it as one of his selling points to market Mr Tinubu to voters.

“Is there anyone here who doesn’t know Lagos? How many people are going to Lagos?” APC governorship candidate, Mr. Udofia, spoke at the APC presidential rally in Uyo on Saturday shortly after receiving the APC flag.

“The incoming president, the greatest Jagaban of our time, will emulate modern Lagos in Akwa Ibom State,” he said.

Mr. Udofia made similar remarks in November last year at a public meeting in Uyo.

“One man, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, developed his country to the level where it is a country of its own. There is no one who is not in Lagos State,” Mr. Udofia said in a public meeting intended to push up support for Mr. Tinubu and his running mate, Kashim Shettima.

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Mr. Udofia said at the November rally that no country in Nigeria has progressed more than Lagos.

“He (Tinubu) planned the country and created lasting economic programs, and that is why until now Lagos is progressing and progressing.”

Mr. Udofia asked the crowd at the rally, “You know how Lagos is?”

“Yes!” they chorused.

“You want Akwa Ibom to look like Lagos?”

“Yes!”

“Who’s going to do-am for you?”

“Master!” crowd chorus.

“A person who loves Akwa Ibom… The only presidential candidate who can give Akwa Ibom is Jagaban Africa,” Mr Udofia said.

‘Retrogressive, not progressive’

Some people who reacted on social media to Mr. Udofia’s earlier comments said that without tall buildings and many business opportunities, Lagos is dirty and chaotic. He said Akwa Ibom is a cleaner, orderly, and peaceful country.

“Uyo is cleaner than Lagos! Uyo also has a world-class stadium. Uyo boasts of modern expressways, and carriages and bereft of the dirt and bedlam traffic that is well-known characteristic of Lagos. Making Uyo like Lagos is retrogressive and not progressive,” Twitter user, @bonchihe, said on the micro-blogging site.

PREMIUM TIMES contacted the spokesperson of the APC in Akwa Ibom, Otoabasi Udo, and sought his response to the reaction of the people to Mr. Udofia’s remarks.

“They are not talking about the physical cleanliness of the state, they are talking about the economic masterplan that has been done well and Lagos State is still standing on that economic masterplan and recording gigantic achievements from that masterplan,” he said.

PREMIUM TIMES asked Mr. Udo why the people of Akwa Ibom should trust Mr. Tinubu on this.

“We have to trust him because it is a matter of love and willingness to do it. Is there anything that is not here that can make Akwa Ibom more prosperous? It needs political will from a loving president,” he said.

Monday’s meeting, held at the Godswill Akpabio International Stadium, was attended by a large crowd.

Among the officials present are the President of the Senate, Ahmed Lawan; Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, Director General of the campaign council and Governor of Plateau State, Simon Lalong; Cross Rivers State Governor Ben Ayade, APC National Vice Chairman, (South), Emma Enekwu, former Niger Delta Minister and former state governor, Godswill Akpabio; Current Minister of Niger Delta, Umana Okon Umana, former Minister of Petroleum, Don Etiebet, former Chairman of EFCC, Nuhu Ribadu, and APC National Woman Leader, Beta Edu.