‘You Gained’t Remorse Becoming a member of APC’, VP Shettima Tells Gov Eno

The Vice President, Senator Kashim Shettima, has assured Akwa Ibom State governor, Umo Eno, and his supporters who adopted him from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to affix the governing All Progressives Congress (APC) that they received’t remorse their resolution.

He mentioned the chief of the social gathering, President Bola Tinubu, particularly requested him to tell the governor that the APC can be residence to him, and that nobody will humiliate him or query his place within the social gathering fold.

Senator Shettima spoke on Saturday in Uyo, the Akwa Ibom State capital, the place he represented the President on the Grand Reception of Governor Umo Eno into the APC fold held at Godswill Akpabio Worldwide Stadium.

Addressing the mammoth crowd of APC supporters who thronged the venue of the grand reception, the Vice President, in a press release by his spokesman, Stanley Nkwocha, described his boss, President Tinubu, as a bridge-builder and deep-rooted democrat who sacrificed his assets to maintain the battle to defend the nation’s democracy.

“When the All Progressives Congress was conceived, the percentages had been stacked towards us. However we endured. We overcame. We emerged not simply as a political platform, however as a motion pushed by constancy to rules. And on the very coronary heart of these rules stands a person whose title defines political tenacity and statesmanship, His Excellency, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR.

“Few figures in our nationwide historical past have given as a lot and demanded so little in return. Lengthy earlier than the drumbeats of democracy returned to Nigeria, he supplied his assets to maintain the battle. When the wind of vindictiveness sought to isolate Lagos when he was Governor, he stood alone and turned isolation into innovation,” he said.

Recalling the position President Tinubu performed in sustaining democracy in Nigeria, VP Shettima mentioned at a time when most politicians “traded their rules for a seat at their oppressor’s desk,” Tinubu selected to remain the course in constructing another, “not in pursuit of non-public glory, however in defence of democracy.

“I’m telling you this, Your Excellency Pastor Umo Eno, as a result of I need you and your co-travellers to know that Mr. President is a bridge-builder, an inveterate democrat, and so, your resolution to return residence to the APC is one which you’ll by no means remorse.

“Mr. President requested me to guarantee you personally: nobody will query your home right here. This social gathering is your private home. You’ll not be humiliated. You’ll not be forsaken. We’re your brothers and sisters within the excessive tides and the low ebbs. We experience collectively, and we rise collectively,” he declared.

The Vice President additional gave the brand new APC entrants essential insights into the workings of the social gathering, saying the governing APC is “not a celebration of self-importance metrics,” which is why it has remained the social gathering to beat ten years after.

The social gathering trustworthy, VP Shettima identified, will not be stored alive by media hype or hostage to cabals however thrive on imaginative and prescient, simply as he mentioned the APC is a political platform that rewards advantage and protects those that stroll with the social gathering “via hearth and flood.

“That’s the reason, ten years on, regardless of all odds, we stay the social gathering to beat. Now we have defied the prophets of doom as a result of we’re greater than an assemblage of politicians. We’re a household.

“And as Mr. President mentioned in his current Democracy Day handle, it isn’t our obligation to repair the home of the opposition. What we’re right here to do is supply a greater home, one which has room for the displaced, the betrayed, the dreamers and the doers. That freedom to decide on, to stroll away from darkness into mild, is the very soul of democracy,” he additional said.

In his handle, Governor Eno mentioned his resolution to affix the APC was necessitated by the will to align with the renewed hope Tinubu administration on the centre so he can rise with the progressives.

He informed the gathering that his “progressive state motion relies on the enlightened state curiosity and to help Mr. President to complete the daring and audacious {economic} reforms he has began.”

He mentioned becoming a member of the APC will assist actualise the infrastructure drive in Akwa Ibom State, together with the Deep Sea Port venture that has been lingering for so long as thirty years.

Additionally in his handle, Nationwide Chairman of the APC, Dr. Abdullahi Ganduje, described the mammoth crowd as intimidating, saying the individuals got here out of their very own volition to affix Governor Umo Eno as a result of they consider within the APC.

“Nationwide unity results in nationwide growth, nationwide growth results in nationwide integration and finally results in nationwide prosperity,” he said.

On his half, Senate President Godswill Akpabio described the Vice President as probably the most clever and a person of integrity.

Noting that the gang doesn’t point out a defection however a motion, he mentioned the South-South has not solely produced the wealth that has stored Nigeria going, however has at all times recognized with the centre.

The Senate President mentioned he was stunned when the zone went a special means in 2023, thanking the governor for the motion, assuring the individuals of the state that the Deep Sea Venture and different requests from the state can be granted by the federal authorities.

Additionally, Chairman of the Progressive Governors Discussion board and Governor of Imo State, Hope Uzodimma, thanked “Governor Umo Eno for the clever resolution he has taken to affix the shifting practice on the trail of nationwide growth.”

He mentioned President Tinubu is a good chief who got here with {economic} reforms, beginning with infrastructure and nationwide insurance policies, and is addressing insecurity in Nigeria and doesn’t want distraction in the meanwhile.

Welcoming dignitaries who graced the occasion, the Governor of Cross River State, Prince Bassey Otu, mentioned it was an excellent day within the historical past of the South-South.

“As soon as upon a time I used to be an orphan within the South—South and was questioning what I alone within the zone was doing when the majority of the assets is from the South – South,” he recalled, saying he began speaking together with his colleagues to align with the federal government on the middle for the nation to develop each politically and economically.

Assuring that the South-South will now work with one voice, the Governor mentioned the Renewed Hope Agenda has been birthed within the land, and all of the {economic} indices of the zone have taken a brand new stand.

The spotlight of the occasion was the handing of the flag and broom, that are the symbols of the social gathering, to the Governor by the Nationwide Chairman, saying it’s a image of progress and authority.