‘All Gov Eno wants from Tinubu is Ibom Deep Seaport’, Akpabio tells Shettima

Senate President Godswill Akpabio has appealed to Vice President Kashim Shettima to help ensure the realisation of the Ibom Deep Seaport project in Akwa Ibom State.

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Speaking at an event organised in honour of Mr Shettima in Uyo, Mr Akpabio, a former governor of the oil-rich state, told the vice president that Governor Umo Eno was making the only request to President Bola Tinubu’s administration for the Deep Seaport.

“The vice president, when you and the president are there, please remember my state. All Governor Eno is looking for from the federal government now is just a Deep Seaport to complement the progress of the state,” Mr Akpabio said.

“It is the Deep Seaport,” he said repeatedly.

Mr Shettima was in the state to attend the burial of late Eno Usoro, the mother of the Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Emem Usoro.

“All the members of the National Assembly are behind the governor. Akwa Ibom is grateful to the president for making an Akwa Ibom daughter the Central Bank deputy governor,” Mr Akpabio said, recalling that an indigene of the state and former governor of the old Cross River State, Clement Isong, last held the position of governor of the bank over 40 years ago.

A video of Mr Akpabio’s remarks was posted on Facebook on Tuesday by his media aide, Anietie Ekong.

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“Anietie Ekong, I can challenge you, in the next 20 years, nothing will happen in Ibom Deep Seaport. So, take note,” a Facebook user, Joshua Harrison, wrote in the comment section, reflecting growing public scepticism about the project’s fate.

Ibom Deep Seaport – political rhetoric

Conceived by then-Governor Victor Attah about two decades ago, the Ibom Deep Seaport, covering 2,565 hectares of land, has remained stalled at the paperwork and federal approval stage.

Successive administrations in the state, including Mr Akpabio’s between 2007 and 2015, have repeatedly promised to actualise the project, which is expected to boost trade and industrialisation in the Niger Delta.

In June, Mr Eno used the Ibom Seaport as campaign rhetoric, framing his defection to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) as a move to secure the project’s long-awaited take-off.

“We are not afraid of joining APC, for we know that with the APC we would realise our Ibom Deep Seaport. That is our plea. For over 30 years, Akwa Ibom has struggled to have a seaport, but today we are reassured that the federal government will help us realise the seaport,” Mr Eno had said at his official reception into the APC — an event attended by Mr Shettima and over seven APC governors.

Underscoring the project’s importance to his administration, Mr Eno presented it as a single demand to the Tinubu-led federal government, insisting that even a partial realisation would justify his political move.

“I believe President Tinubu, who is a man of his word, would honour us. Even if it is one terminal, this movement (his defection) would have been justified,” he said, telling the crowd at the Godswill Akpabio International Stadium, venue of the reception, that the people of the state are looking at the federal government as “the bride looks at the face of his bridegroom.”

Defection has nothing to do with state interest – Lawyer

Although Mr Eno had pointed to the realisation of Ibom Deep Seaport as the reason for leaving the PDP, some Nigerians, including human rights activist Inibehe Effiong, had dismissed this justification.

“Looking at Governor Eno, saying he is defecting because of the seaport. These politicians think we are all kids. Which seaport is he talking about? Everybody in Akwa Ibom knows why Mr Eno is defecting. It has nothing to do with the interest of the state,” Mr Effiong, who hails from Akwa Ibom, said in a television interview.

He said Mr Eno defected because the “APC looks like a rigging machine that once you come, they would guarantee you victory by all means”.

Mr Effiong urged the media to dispel the “propaganda” that Mr Eno was defecting to realise a seaport for the state.