The people of Akwa Ibom State southern Nigeria, assembled in their thousands to celebrate the victory of the ruling party in the state the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
They came out in large numbers at the state house Uyo the capital city, chanting and shouting in their local language songs of victory and praises to God for the victory.
The PDP candidate Umo Eno emerged the winner in the gubernatorial elections with 354,348, closely followed by his counterpart in the Young Progressive Party Senator Bassey Albert with 136,262 and Akan Udofia of the All Progressive Congress 129,602
Governor Udom Emmanuel who addressed the happy crowd described the governor-elect as a man with a large heart who is ready to accommodate all, and called on everybody to join hands to support him.
Udom added that Umo Eno has the capacity to supersede the successes of his predecessors and move the state forward.
“You have a man that has a large heart, I’m sure he is ready to accommodate all. The state belongs to all and everybody should join hands to support him then we will continue to move our state forward”.
“Now you have somebody who is coming in who will actually do much better than what all others have done in the past”. Udom said.
The governor-elect, Umo Eno who spoke after Udom, said he will run a government of inclusiveness that will progress the state and improve the lives of the people.
Umo Eno acknowledged that the contest was fierce, and called on his opponents to sheathe the sword, and join him to develop the state.
He reminded his supporters and opponents that they are first of all akwaibomites before any political party, so they should embrace peace.
In his words, “I like to call on all the people that contested with us, such a good contest fierce though but we thank God, we ask them to join us, we are first of all akwaibomites before any political party we will run a government of inclusiveness that will progress Akwa Ibom and I ask that they please sheathe the sword and let’s take peace as our watch word”.
Umo Eno also promised the people happy Hour, a phrase used during his campaign to mean moments of celebration after work.
“A golden era has begun, we like to say to the Akwa Ibom people that the happy hour has began and there will be many happy moments, as we do some hard work, we have some happy moments”. Eno said.
Akwa Ibom State is one of the few states in Nigeria that has been governed by the same party, the PDP since Nigeria returned to democratic rule in 1999.
COV/ERIC/DAMOLA/FEYI/BLESSING
