Governor Emmanuel will fulfil promises to league-winning Akwa United squad – Official

With less than ten days to the end of the tenure of the Governor Udom Emmanuel-led administration in Akwa Ibom, the sports Commissioner, Monday Uko, says the government will redeem its promises to the 2022 league title-winning Akwa United squad.

Mr Udom will leave office on 29 May with his successor, Umo Eno, the former commissioner for Land and Water Resources, assuming office as the Governor.

The interview is a sequel to the report PREMIUM TIMES published in August 2022, revealing that the Udom Emmanuel-led government was yet to fulfil the promises made to Akwa United players on Thursday, 16 December 2021.

The story of unfulfilled ‘league-winning’ promises to Akwa United

Meanwhile, recent discussions with the players-present and past- told this newspaper nothing had been done about the promises made by the governor.

But Mr Uko, during his telephone conversation with our reporter, said the government is continuous, and there is no need for the players to panic even if the present administration leaves in a couple of days.

“Government made a promise. It is a promise they will pay. It’s no more news. Government is continuous. The question is that the Government has a lot, but will the promises be fulfilled? The answer is yes,” he confidently stated.

“I have the permission of the entire Exco (Akwa Ibom State Executive Council) to announce that the entire team, all of you, will be given a plot of land each in Akwa Ibom State.

“Because you won the league, we will give you N100 million so that we encourage you to do more.”

The Governor, alongside the commissioner, hosted the title-winning squad and the coach, Kennedy Boboye, to a banquet at the Governor’s office where he publicly promised N100 million to the team, a piece of land each for the players and a coaster bus for the team as quoted in the first paragraph.

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But one year and five months later, Mr Emmanuel is yet to fulfil the promises he made to the players.

No certain date

Despite his assurance to the players, Mr Udo wasn’t specific about the time and date when the promises would be fulfilled.

“After the promises were made, have they themselves played to expectations? The government is continuing, another person will come and answer some of the questions. The truth is that, will those people be paid? Certainly, they will be paid. Were the promises made a live promise? Yes. When? It can be tomorrow, next tomorrow, or next week.”

While the players may have expected the promises to be fulfilled quickly, they must now hope and wait for them to be fulfilled under the next administration of governor-elect Umo Eno.