03/08/2022
Yesterday, the Principal of the Amazing Grace Campaign Organisation and PDP Governorship Aspirant, Rt.Hon Onofiok Luke honoured the invitation of Ifim Ibom Ibibio led by the President General of the Traditional Rulers Council and Paramount Ruler of Nsit Ubium Local Government Area the Oku Ibom Ibibio, HRM Nteyin Solomon Etuk, the Clan Head of Nsit and Group Heads of Ibiakpan the origin of the principal.
Hon. Luke before proceeding to the meeting met with members of the Central Working Committee, CWC of the Amazing Grace Campaign Organisation and select group leaders, supporter at his Campaign Office to notify them of the proposed meeting.
He proceeded the venue of the meeting the Palace of the Paramount Ruler of Nsit Ubium in company of members of the CWC and selected individual who had first hand the content of the meeting.
The campaign organisation stands by all that was said by the principal at the meeting. The Principal has assured his teeming supporters to remain steadfast that in the coming days he would call an extended meeting to formally brief them on the way forward.
Below is the full transcript of what was said by
Onofiok Luke
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You asked me to be the Chairman of the Planning Committee of your coronation and proclamation as Oku Ibom Ibibio. That was the trust you had in me and I chaired that committee successfully and I did not do that, so that today I will disobey you, that informed my reason for responding to your call today.
Permit me to thank the Paramount Rulers of Ibibio, Eket, and other Paramount Rulers for their advice to me in the last two months. To the Paramount Ruler of Onna, my father in-law, I had hopes on him in the contest, the reason is that according to the saying, an inlaw does not give his inlaw a palm fruit spikes to sit on. I don't know if he has given me a palm fruit spikes to sit on or not but I thank him.
Permit me to single out the Paramount Ruler of Ikot Abasi, sir you are father and may God bless you. No matter what anyone does, it is said that when a tick is gotten out from a dog, you show it to the dog first, you pointed out certain things to me that I did not understand and I want to thank you for being that light. I've already thanked my Paramount Ruler that sent for the two of us and in that meeting I said something today, there is no way that the Royal fathers of the highest traditional institution in my ethnic group and the land would ask me to do something that I will say no. I can't say no. Also, I say yes because as you've invited me today, I don't know if there's any amount you will offer me that anyone will say that it was because of the amount of money I was offered but if it was a political organization, blackmail would have come that Onofiok has been given so so amount of money, thank you, father.
Then to what I've been asked to do, sir, I've heard you as Onofiok Akpan Luke; I agreed to do what you want me to do, to my fathers, the Paramount Rulers and members of Ifim Ibom Ibibio, I as Onofiok Akpan Luke will agree to what you want me to do but one request I will place before you before I go forward sir, you've already stated that the remaining of this act will be done in politics. I did not stand alone to contest this election, people had trust in me, people queued behind me, people believed in me and till tomorrow they still do, I will not stand here to take a final decision as a group but I've taken a decision as Onofiok Luke, I want to plead that you allow me to call a meeting of my campaign organization across the State to be able to do the politics and communicate what has been told me today to them and equally communicate my commitment which I have given as a person today in this palace. And what is that commitment; that myself will be working with my brother, my elder brother and my leader, Pastor Umo Eno for the development of Akwa Ibom State and the peace of Akwa Ibom State.
Please Sir, a few things, firstly, it was after sighting the loopholes in the State and I want to be understood; there is no king that repairs the entire community, even in America of two hundred years of existence, a lot are still to be done, there will certainly be something that another king takes up from the previous king and it was after sighting that, that I stood up to vie for the office of the governor of Akwa Ibom State so that I can address those issues ranging from the Primary Healthcare, having good health centres in our local communities to youth development where the youths can be empowered to work, where they can be supported and to how our women can be included in the scheme of things, how we can support our students with scholarship and bursary, how we can respect our traditional institutions to a point that we have them as members of the State Executive Security Council by legislation and a few other things and how we can go into commercial agriculture so that while we have found ourselves where we are in this challenge that oil is not giving us the money we need that we can go into agriculture to empower our young men and women and I decided to craft that into a blueprint.
My first concern is how these issues are going to be addressed and I want to believe in the days to come when we are going to talk politics that I will handover my blueprint to my brother. My very first concern is how the rural communities in Akwa Ibom, how do the poor people are lifted out of poverty and so that they can have a good lifestyle and that's my first concern. And I know that my brother will do everything to make that possible.
My second concern, which I have to state here, would be the teeming men and women here and out there who believed in us, how they can be integrated and that is the matter the traditional institution should be able to help us because somewhere along the line, the political institution might fail. We had a situation where they had failed us before and so, we would want to stick by that commitment of how are we integrated apart from the general event which will involve the entire Akwa Ibom people to be included in the governance. How do we integrate those that supported us without biases that this one supported Onofiok Luke and that has to start in my Local Government, that is my second major concern.
Having said all these, I was contesting the election to become a governor, and I have a view of what I wanted and it's in the Peoples Democratic Party, yes! Were there overtures from other parties? The answer is yes, because I have to tell the traditional institution the truth and I told His Royal Majesty that day, I told you about the form I was offered and I told you that I told them that they should give me time, but having look back, some members of my campaign organization came with video while I was campaigning that you've always been known for consistency, you said when or assuming you don't win this primary that you will not leave the party. I had to play these words again and again and for whatever it's worth, consistency means a lot and I've lived my life being a consistent person. It was on the basis of this I made a commitment that I was not leaving the Peoples Democratic Party and having worked, being a member of the Peoples Democratic Party as an Aspirant of the party, as a party man, I must support the candidate of the party. I might have had issues with the processes that threw him up, and the actions of people but no matter how it is, processes are not my brother's, processes is not my brother but the end product of that processes is my brother.
Again, when we needed a political leader for the Nsit people, I went to his house on my own and said I have made you a political leader, he said I wish you could be a political leader but I said to him that God has lifted me to be a national leader and international leader and a continental leader by the grace of God, I don't wish to be a political leader and it was almost about twelve midnight and I have witnesses here, I lifted up his hand said, you are the political leader of Nsit people, I cannot destroy what I have done and that was why in the period of my campaigning, you never heard me make a negative comment against him. I was on issues, staying on issues. We've done things in the past with him and then deep things in the past together, how so ever it is, we have arrived at this point.
The second thing is since I have not emerged as the candidate of the party, does it mean that I should come and rock the boat back at home, the answer is, no!
The third thing is, that I hold the mandate of the Federal Constituency, if it has pleased the leaders of the State to ask that the Federal Constituency that holds the mandate should produce a governor; I was given the mandate to protect the interest of the Federal Constituency not to work against the interest of the Federal Constituency. I was using that mandate to try to see how I can be the one to be chosen, I did all I could do, I have done what I could do and I leave the rest to God Almighty.
Having come to this point, posterity will not forgive me if having held the mandate, the vote of the people of Etinan Federal Constituency I begin to use that vote and mandate to serve another constituency and then work against my Federal Constituency and then work against my Local Government or work against my Clan; the Nsit Clan where I come from or work against my subgroup Ibiakpan. We all prayed and fasted, we had a place of prayer where we prayed that God should give us the governorship of the state and the day that place was dedicated he was there and we all came together in 2018 to pray that prayer. It has come, I as Onofiok Luke has been blessed by God using the Local Government at this point in time, I should not be seen to be the one to work against the Local Government, I would not and I was not working against the Local Government. Like I issued my statement, we equally stood at equal footings when both of us were contesting, by the grace of the God Almighty because if it is not for the will of God this wouldn't have happened and this seems to be the will of God and who am I as a mere mortal to question it and so I stand here to say, Sir, I don't say no, I accept in totality what I told you in that private meeting about a week ago and what I'm saying here publicly but the only thing I'm asking for opportunity should be given for me to go and call a meeting of my support base and give this communication. And having said that Sir, I ask may God bless our path, may God bless our journey and may God lead us to arrive at the safe point and His Eminent, I've always been your son, to the Paramount Rulers, I've always been your son; I've never been known for disrespect and it must not be because of the election that I must disrespect you and like you rightly know, I am taking this decision not because I've been induced, nobody has offered me a single naira or promised me a single naira, when we met Sir, I told you how much I've spent since 2019 till date to run for the governorship and I said that I am not asking for any returns and what I wanted was a better Akwa Ibom and all what I still want is a better Akwa Ibom and I want this to be recorded today that for the sake of my Local Government, for the sake of Akwa Ibom, for the sake of my ethnic group, and for the sake of my clan and for the sake of where I come from, I have decided to take this decision today, it's painful. Did we have the opportunity to have fought, yes,I've always been fighting all my life, we could have fought and said whatever it is but for how long, you cannot fight against your brother and you cannot fight against your fathers and having said that I accept in totality what this peace group and then the rest of other things would be consolidated and in the next two to three weeks, we should be able to come up with something concrete politically and then we have a way of making a policy statement, thank you very much and may God bless all of us.
Directorate of Communication
Amazing Grace Campaign organisation
3 August 2022
