Oba urges militants to give Yar’Adua, Akpabio chance

Militant youths in the Niger Delta have been charged to give President Musa Yar’Adua and some performing governors like Chief Godswill Akpabio a chance to bring them out of current level of poverty and deplorable living conditions.

The Oba of Lagos, Oba Rilwanu Akiolu, who made the plea at  the weekend, when Governor Akpabio visited his palace, said expressed the hope that with the current crop of leaders in the country, things would soon change for the better.

The monarch who acknowledged the giant strides of Akpabio’s administration in Akwa Ibom State, told him that the task was still enormous but that he can achieve more with continuous display of commitment, focus and determination.

“It is God that chooses a leader and God has chosen you now to lead your people because He knows your potentials. There are a lot of resources to development in your area and the time has come for those things to multiply in geometrical progression. And God has used you, as a leader to do that”, the Oba told Akpabio.

He condemned “bad and greedy leaders” of the past, who he blamed for putting Nigeria in the current deplorable state, arguing that “with patience, hard work, fear of God and absolute honesty”, the Niger Delta crisis would be a thing of the past.

“The problem of the country has been bad and greedy leaders in the past, he said. “But things are now changing for the better and that’s the more reason those who are aggrieved because of the mistakes of the past, should take it easy and give peace a chance”.

His appeal to the militants, “in God’s name, is to the so-called militants to give  President Yar’adua time to move them out of poverty. There is no gain-saying that the economy of this country depends largely from what we get from those oil producing areas and they have a right to benefit from that. But they have to give peace a chance.

The President in his wisdom, is doing a lot to ensure that they reap the fruits of their God-given natural resources. Two wrongs cannot make a right. All the good intentions of the Federal Government should be complemented and should be given a chance. Now that they (militants) have movers and shakers of the nation who can make things happen for them, they should please, please, please in God’s name give peace a chance”.

Acknowledging the age-long relationship between Lagos and Akwa Ibom people, which said has brought mutual benefits, the Oba, who once served in Akwa Ibom State during his carrier as a policeman, commended the people for their hospitality and accommodating spirit to strangers.

Governor Akpabio had informed the Oba that his administration has within 20months, was transformed the landscape of Akwa  Ibom State aimed at “raising the dignity and living standard of the people”.

While also informing the Oba that he was in Lagos for a reception organised in his honour by Akwa Ibom indigenes in Lagos, Akpabio said not even the global economic meltdown would deter his administration’s pursuit of total infrastructural and economic development of the state.

“I told my people that if I cannot do anything, I will at least confuse them with development”, he said, adding that his administration has so far provided potable water, motor able roads, electricity, as well as affordable health care services to the people of the state.

The governor who further told the royal father he recently declared free qualitative and compulsory education, from the primary to the secondary levels, noted that even Chief Obafemi Awolowo, the exponent of free education in Nigeria , would have marvelled that such a feat can be don in Akwa Ibom State,  despite the global economic recession.

He explained that apart from bequeathing to Akwa Ibom children the needed training to confront their future, the declaration of free and compulsory education was a veritable weapon to fight militancy in his domain.

His word: “The Niger Delta is embroiled today with militancy. So what we are trying to do is to fight it with education.   I believe strongly that an educated child will know his right from his wrong and will shun vices such as cultism, kidnapping, militancy and other forms of social violence, as much as possible.”, he said.

Emphasizing that Akwa Ibom government was committed to raising the dignity and enhancing the living standard of the people,  Akpabio added that the philosophy behind the free and compulsory education and other youth development progammes was to discourage the house-mate syndrome the state was hitherto associated with.