A civil society group, The Advocacy for Rotational Leadership (TAROL), has cautioned against portraying Senate President Godswill Akpabio in a negative light before the northern region, which he has demonstrated a commitment to helping solve its developmental challenges.
TAROL coordinator Prince Ene Okon made this call while interacting with select journalists in Abuja yesterday. He was reacting to allegations that Akpabio was biased against the north arising from the suspension of Senator Natasha Akpoti–Uduaghan, for which some have called for his resignation.
Prince Okon described Akpabio as a product of a unity school that loves the north and Nigeria more than his northern critics.
He said: “For instance, I recall in 2009, when the Senate President was governor of Akwa Ibom State, he donated, at that time, a whopping sum of N10 million to the Northern Governors Forum (NGF) to help tackle the menace of out-of-school children, a syndrome still plaguing the north today.
“He visited the then chairman of the NGF and governor of Niger State, Dr Babangida Aliyu, and handed over the cheque to him shortly after paying a condolence visit to former Military President General Ibrahim Babangida, who had just lost his wife.
“This shows that while Akpabio was busy carrying out massive and extensive development in his state, he was also concerned about the developmental setbacks in the North.”
Okon also recalled that northern children resident in Akwa Ibom State benefited from Akpabio’s free education policy, with no discrimination in terms of beneficiaries. “Even more recently, as Senate President, he threw his weight behind the bill to provide a six-month jail term for parents who refuse to enrol their children in school. This is a predominant problem in the north. Akpabio has demonstrated his love for the country by tackling it because education is the bedrock of a developed and civilised nation.”
TAROL said good gestures like these would certainly not come from someone who hates the North.
“I will advise his Northern critics, calling for his resignation, to direct their energy towards promoting peace, unity, and equity in the political space, rather than dabbling in matters they do not understand and pitching one region against another,” Prince Okon added.
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