Date Published: 02/07/10

Dear Editor,

Letter to Governor Akpabio: Anambra under Ngige was not a failed State

That Akwa Ibom governor, Chief (Dr) Godswill Akpabio throws wrong words on Anambra are something that should worry Ndi Anambra. In November 2009, he said that Anambra was a failed State before Governor Peter Obi assumed office. Ndi Anambra disagrees that Anambra was a failed State under Dr. Chris Ngige.

This time around, Governor Akpabio on page 46 of Nigerian Tribune of 22 nd January 2010 while receiving in his office the GOC 82 Division Enugu, Major General Mohammed Issah, sought the military assistance in stamping out kidnapping. He said “that the kidnapping crime, which started in the Niger-Delta region, has now spilled to other part of the country, particularly Anambra State”. Why Anambra ‘particularly’. Also he unwittingly contradicted self when he averred earlier that Anambra was a failed State before Obi came on board; with his latest statement, it is now clear that if the State actually was a failed at any point in time, it should be now (Obi’s tenure) and not under any other government. Peter Obi’s wife is from Akwa Ibom, I understand; nevertheless this is not how to protect a brother-in-law. I am from Anambra. My own brother-in-law is a known Akwa Ibom person; Obong Inueyen who I hear was one of those that contested against Akpabio in the PDP governorship primary but now sure to get the Senatorial seat in the next dispensation. Also, one of Akwa Ibom’s popular and respected daughters, Christy Essien, is married to a known Anambra family. Therefore we should play blindly when it comes to national discourse.

But why does Akpabio always single Anambra for negative comments, after all (and also) we hear that his de facto Chief of Staff, one Barrister Sylvester Okonkwo (younger brother of Senator Annie Okonkwo), is from Anambra State. If Akpabio was not clear about anything Anambra State, he should ask the Okonkwos. 

Benjamin Maduka,

3 Alheri Street

Jimeta-Yola