Governor Udom Emmanuel of Akwa Ibom State has described the massive turn-out of supporters at this year’s Democracy Day celebration, which held yesterday at the Uyo Township Stadium, in the state capital, as the largest turn-out of people ever, to any political event in Nigeria.
While counting the gains of “19 years of unbroken democracy in Nigeria” and three years of his administration in Akwa Ibom State, Emmanuel said: “This is the largest gathering of people ever to any political event in Nigeria, whether Democracy Day or Independence Day celebration.
The governor attributed the huge turn-out to the overwhelming support of the Peoples Democracy Party (PDP) has enjoyed in the state, but, more importantly, to the dividends of good governance which the state has enjoyed from the PDP government in the last 19 years.
He congratulated Nigerians for what he described as “19 years of unbroken democracy in Nigeria,” urging Nigerians, particularly politicians, to do everything within their powers to protect “our hard-earned democracy.”
“The journey to where we are did not come easy, we fought for it with some people losing their lives.
“Today, democracy has come to stay in Nigeria. PDP has come to stay in Akwa Ibom State,” he said.
Re-counting the gains of his three years’ governance in the state, Emmanuel noted that “today, we’ve been able to take
Akwa Ibom State to the heights where no other state in Nigeria has attained.”
He said his five-point agenda is running steadily on course and listed political inclusiveness, infrastructure consolidation, food sufficiency and his industrialisation drive that has, so far, seen the emergence of some state-of-the-art companies, such as the Metering Solutions Company, Jubillee Syringe Company – the largest producer of disposable syringes in Africa and the Fertiliser Plant, among others, as being part of his contributions to the development of Akwa Ibom State in the past three years.