AN OPEN LETTER TO GOVERNOR UDOM EMMANUEL

Sir,

FIVE YEARS HAD JUST GONE

I thank the Almighty God for his grace and mercy upon you and your family in the past five years as the governor of this great state. May He continue to keep you.

Let me also thank the people of Akwa Ibom State for giving you the support right from your first term in office to this very day. They deserve nothing less than a sincere appreciation.
My gratitude also goes to our security agents who had worked round the clock to ensure that this state remained peaceful and calm for all of us. God will reward them.

Your Excellency, it has been over five years since God chose you to run the affairs of our state. The journey, from all indications, had not been easy. In the last five years, our state had made some important progress despite the challenges that confronted us. The state had experienced relative peace, although there were isolated cases of crisis and violence in some parts of the state. In the area of physical infrastructure, your administration had equally made some quantum jumps, especially in terms of road construction and building of hospitals. Your administration had equally made reasonable impact in food security before the global pandemic.

Your Excellency, let me also recognize your administration's effort in bringing up some industries such as the Metering Company, Flour Mill, Coconut Refinery and Syringe Manufacturing Company. Although I do not know the operational level of these industries, the fact that they are not "newspapers projects" gives me the assurance that they will serve the interest and also meet the need of the Akwa Ibom people in the now and in the long run.

Your Excellency, as you know, by 29th May, 2023, if God spares our lives and if Christ delays His second coming, you will be addressed as the outgoing governor of Akwa Ibom state, and a new and a different administration will commence. Also, by 30th May of that same year and considering all the factors I mentioned earlier, you will be addressed as the ex or former governor of Akwa Ibom state.

Your Excellency, this letter is not to judge your performance in office in the past five years. Rather, my purpose of writing you this open letter is to bring to your understanding the fact that the day is far spent. In the build up to the 2015 governorship election in the state, you displayed a small but attractive CARD before all the Akwa Ibom people and you challenged us to hold you responsible if you fail to implement the least of the contents of that CARD.

Your Excellency, I want to believe that that CARD is still with you. It is on that note that I write this letter and I strongly believe that the contents of that card is what every Akwa Ibom person needs to be implemented by you.

Your Excellency, I think this is the right time for me to remind you of that beautiful CARD because it will be useless to remind you of that CARD after you might have left office as the governor.

As I mentioned earlier, Your Excellency, I never intended to use this letter to rate your performance in the last five years. But as a fellow citizen and as someone who wants you to end well, having understood that you might have deviated or forgotten about that CARD, I humbly and respectfully appeal to you that the contents of the CARD should be adhered to and be implemented.
Finally, I ask God to give you the wisdom to run the affairs of the state successfully.

Sunny Abia is your fellow Akwa Ibomite.