“We will build roads, but we won’t let our people die of hunger” – Umana

APC Governorship candidate in Akwa Ibom, Mr. Umana Okon Umana

The All Progressives Congress governorship candidate in Akwa Ibom State, Umana Okon Umana has said that the welfare and happiness of Akwa Ibom people will be the focus of APC government in the State, when elected into power in the forthcoming elections.
Mr. Umana Okon Umana said, “Government should be about people. If you remove the people from the government consideration, then there is no point having a government. What is the need of having a government that has refused to pay teachers’ salaries? What is the essence of government when there is so much hunger in the land? Some civil servants in Akwa Ibom State are owed up to nine months salaries, while some are owed up to 12 months.”

Mr. Umana was addressing a large crowd of APC supporters on Monday at Ikot Ibritam, headquarters of Oruk Anam Local Government Area, during the party’s campaign rally in the area.

Umana said many local contracting firms in Akwa Ibom State are no longer in operation because of lack of government patronage and government indebtedness to them. Some of the local contractors had their last jobs in the State since the administration of Obong Victor Attah, according to him.

“Yes, we will build good roads, but we will not allow our people to die of hunger. The overall welfare of our people will be paramount to us.”

Umana vowed to get the Akwa Ibom government to work for the welfare of Akwa Ibom people when he is elected as the next governor of the State.

“I promise you, we will create jobs for Akwa Ibom youths. Those who seek for employment today will be made to become employers of labour because our government will develop the entrepreneurial capacity of our people through small scale businesses and agriculture,” Umana said.

Umana said people sometimes referred to him as ‘the engine room’ of Akpabio’s administration so as to blackmail and blame him for the failures of Governor Godswill Akpabio. “There’s no engine that drives itself. It is the driver, and not the engine, that drives the car,” he said, while accusing Akpabio of insulting and waging war against elders like Obong Victor Attah, Chief Don Etiebet, Dr. Ime Umanah and Chief Ufot Ekaette who would have advised the governor on how to run the State.

The APC governorship candidate thanked the people of Oruk Anam for coming out in large number to show support for the party. Apparently mocking the ruling PDP in the State, Mr. Umana said, “We are not like the other party that take permanent secretaries, commissioners and government appointees to go and fill campaign ground. This is not imported crowd. The people we see here are real indigenes of Oruk Anam; it is not a rented crowd,” he said.