Wole Balogun, Ado-Ekiti
The Ooni of Ife, Oba Enitan Adeyeye Ogunwusi, will honour Governor Udom Emmanuel of Akwa Ibom State for his sterling performance as Chief Public Servant in a ceremony that is attracting the ‘Who is Who’ in the country.
The event is billed to hold at the Civic Center, Lagos Island on December 16.
The honour, the Daily Sun learnt, will come in the form of an induction into the Hall of Fame of a Magazine, Hall of Grace (HOG), which chief custodian is a former Minister for Sports, Chief Alex Akinyele.
Other distinguished Nigerians who have been inducted into HOG Hall of Fame included Alh. Aliko Dangote, Alh. Atiku Abubakar, Dr. Akinwunmi Adeshina, Sen. Musa Kwankwaso, Dr. Abdulfatai Ahmed, Gov. Ibrahim Dakwambo, Capt. Idris Wada, and Sen. Ben Bruce, Sen. Shehu Sani, among others.
According to a press statement made available, on Monday, by Managing Custodian of the HOG, Mr. Rupert Ojenuwa, it said that the Board of HoG, in collaboration with the Royal office of the Ooni of Ife, will be inducting Governor Emmanuel into its Hall of Fame in recognition of his sterling performance as a chief executive of the state.
Ojenuwa said, ” HoG Awards, whose Board boasts of eminent Nigerians, including a former honorable Minister of Information, Chief Alex Akinyele, Prof. Dupe Olatubosun, Pastor. Ituah Ighodalo has, for upwards of eight years, encouraged good governance by celebrating only distinguished Nigerians who have and are contributing to nation building.
“Though we have an annual awards ceremony which has been on for eight years, we hold an induction ceremony once in four years.
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“Our induction Ceremony usually comes with a theme and our inductee is usually selected after careful considerations of his impacts and contributions in years to a state or the entire nation’
“This year, the HoG shall be honoring the Executive Governor of Akwa-Ibom with a special Induction and Decoration Ceremony which is to be carried out by the Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Enitan Ogunwusi, the Ojaja II of Ile-Ife.
“Our choice of Udom Emmanuel is borne out of a need to honor performance. Our nation is going through a lot.
“Several states across the nation cannot boast of serious development. The beauty of democracy is in its dividends for without dividends, democracy loses its steam.
“After careful considerations of the democratic dividends delivered to the people of Akwa-Ibom State by Governor Emmanuel which cuts across all sectors of the state’s economy, ranging from health to education and to human capital development and his efforts at diversifying the economy by gross contribution to industry and agriculture, one would agree that the governor of Akwa Ibom truly deserves this massive honor,” the statement concluded.