The budget is the law and there have been provisions that allow for grants for donations and for hospitality as enshrined within the budget<\/p>\n
Governor Godswill Akpabio of Akwa Ibom State has defended his donations and hospitality to individuals, churches and organisations as being within the limits of the law.<\/p>\n
Akpabio said the donations are captured by the yearly state budget passed by House of Assembly.<\/p>\n
Akpabio, who was fielding questions on Friday from Government House correspondents at Governor\u2019s Lodge, Uyo, condemned what he termed \u201dbad press\u201d by a section of the media.<\/p>\n
He said: \u201cI have noticed a lot of attacks in the media particularly the social media and some of the newspapers have started writing editorials on the Governor of Akwa Ibom and trying to create impression that because he made a donation of a Jeep to one of his daughters, Mrs. Anne Macauley-2face that got married recently, that means he is a spendthrift.<\/p>\n
\u201cOf course, that kind of allegation is far from the truth.\u201d<\/p>\n
Akpabio condemned the recent speculation in the media over his donation of a Prado Jeep and sponsorship of 20 family members of Annie Macauley-Idibia, worth N3 million, for their wedding in Dubai, saying that such donations are entrenched in the yearly budget usually passed by Akwa Ibom House of Assembly.<\/p>\n
According to him: \u201cAnything connected with the governor\u2019s donation is captured within the law of the state.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe budget is the law and there have been provisions that allow for grants for donations and for hospitality as enshrined within the budget.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf I make donation out of that subhead, it\u2019s covered within the law.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt means, I am acting within the ambit of the law.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have not gone outside the law.\u201d<\/p>\n
Akpabio further announced the sponsorship of Akwa Ibom State indigenes to India for treatment of different ailments.<\/p>\n
He added: \u201cI have sponsored over 200 Akwa Ibom children to India \u2013 some for holes in their hearts, some having congenital kidney problem.<\/p>\n
\u201cMany of them, I don\u2019t know.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn fact, I can say that 99 per cent of them I don\u2019t know.<\/p>\n
\u201cI applaud Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly for even supporting my charity donation when the bomb blast in Madala occurred and hundreds of persons were killed and many were hospitalized without money for hospital bills.<\/p>\n
\u201cOn behalf of the good people of Akwa Ibom State, we showed sympathy by making a donation of N50 million to cater for those families.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is within the ambit of the law.\u201d<\/p>\n
Akpabio attributed the attack on his person to the handiwork of politicians who are afraid of his recent emergence as the Chairman of Peoples Democratic Party Governors\u2019 Forum, noting \u201cThe reality is that having become the Chairman of the PDP Governors\u2019 Forum, people are frightened.<\/p>\n
\u201cLooking at it from the political angle, everything I do now is being politicized.<\/p>\n
\u201cAkwa Ibom people need to be aware of this.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey may also need to know that there is an organized attack and arrangement to blackmail their governor.<\/p>\n
\u201cPut it this way: the attack is on PDP.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe intention there is that he is a messenger of PDP and every message he says must be the message of the PDP governors.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo what do you do?<\/p>\n
\u201cYou attack the messenger in order to kill the message.<\/p>\n
\u201cI want my people to disregard those things.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey are all politically motivated.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat will not distract me from what I am doing.<\/p>\n
\u201cI would rather want people to do editorials, go to the social media, discuss the flyovers I am building, discuss the brand new prison, discuss the roads that I am opening, discuss the international terminal building, discuss the Maintenance Repair and Overhaul facility we are building, discuss the brand new general hospitals, discuss even those projects we have completed.
\n\u201cThose are the things I will like you to discuss.<\/p>\n
\u201cLet us discuss more about development and challenge Akwa Ibom State about development because this is one state that is showing direction to Nigeria.<\/p>\n
\u201cA state that has done over 35 bridges under five years.<\/p>\n
\u201cNot to discuss about donation of N3 million and then start attacking the governor when it is covered by budget.\u201d<\/p>\n
Eagleonline<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The budget is the law and there have been provisions that allow for grants for donations and for hospitality as enshrined within the budget Governor Godswill Akpabio of Akwa Ibom…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8354,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11235","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-exclusive"],"yoast_head":"\n