Akwa Ibom State Governor-elect, Umo Eno has promised to set up a reconciliation committee to bring the people of the state together and focus on things that deepen the state’s unity.
Mr Eno stated this in Uyo on Sunday shortly after he was declared winner of the Akwa Ibom State governorship election, which he contested on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
He dedicated his victory to God and thanked his “political father — Governor Udom Emmanuel,” whom he said saw in him “what others may not have seen”. He promised not to disappoint the people.
“I harbor no hate or animosity towards any one. As Abraham Lincoln once said, ‘with malice towards none, with charity for all,’ I promise to run an all-inclusive government, where no one would be punished or victimised on account of holding a different political opinion.
“We are all Akwa Ibomites first and foremost before our political labels. Political parties are vehicles to attain power, they cannot substitute the bond of unity and brotherhood we have all shared for centuries.
“It is a known fact that politics may have created a gulf of alienation in some sections of our society. I hereby pledge to set up a Reconciliation Committee to bring our brothers and sisters together and look at things that deepen our unity than those that divide us,” Mr Eno said.
Eammnauel Adigio, a professor and State Returning Officer for the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on Sunday declared Mr Eno as governor-elect for scoring the highest number of votes in the 18 March election in the state.
Mr Eno won in 29 of the 31 local government areas in the state, with a total of 354,348 votes to defeat his top challenger, Bassey Albert of the Young Progressives Party (YPP), who won in two local governments’ areas, scoring 136,262 votes. Akanimo Udofia, the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), came third in the race with 129,602 votes.
The candidates of the New Nigeria Peoples Party, John Akpanudoedehe and that of Labour Party, Uduakobong Udoh, scored 12,509 and 4,746 votes respectively.
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