Governor Godswill Akpabio of Akwa Ibom State on Friday assured Nigerians that ailing Governor Sullivan Chime of Enugu State, who has been hospitalised in the United Kingdom since September 2012, will return to the country in the next 10 days.
The development came as Akpabio promised to make public any activity of the Nigeria Governors Forum, which negates the principles setting it up by the governors.
He vowed that the NGF would continue to work in tandem with the Federal Government.
Speaking with airport correspondents on arrival from London, United Kingdom at the Murtala Mohammed International Airport, Lagos, Akpabio, who was among three other governors who visited Chime on his hospital bed in London recently, declared that the governor was hale, hearty and capable of ruling the state on his arrival.
Akpabio, who insisted that Chime would return to Enugu State Government House in the next 10 days, visited the sick Enugu governor in a London hospital in company with Governors Gabriel Suswam of Benue State and Governor Rotimi Ameachi of Rivers State.
Akpabio admonished Nigerians to always trust their representatives and warned against playing politics with people’s health.
His words: “I was a part of the delegation that visited the governor in London and I brought a message of goodwill from His Excellency, the Governor of Enugu State and like I said, we must learn to mourn with those who mourn and rejoice with those who rejoice.
“We should not play politics out of people’s health.
“For me, I’m very grateful to God that Governor Chime has recovered fully and he would be assuming duties within the next 10 days.
“It’s not something that any Nigerian should be sad about.
“Rather, we should be happy and we should pray that he’s returning to the country within 10 days from today and he would be in the Government House in Enugu on his seat as the governor of the state.
“I can confirm that because I had interactions with him and he’s in good health and he’s recovering.
“Once the doctors give him the go ahead, he will be in the office.
“You can quote me.”
Speaking on the allegation that the NGF was gradually becoming a cartel and working against the Federal Government and the Nigerian people, Akpabio denied such claims, vowing that he would not be a party to any association or forum that would attempt to bring down President Goodluck Jonathan and his team.
He described the allegation as baseless.
He said: “I will not be a party to anything that will attempt to pull down the government of President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan and that I’m assuring you.
“The allegation they are making is news to my ears.
“I’ve not been around the country for a while and I don’t know what is going on.
“Definitely, when I get in, I will observe things and if I should find out that the governors’ forum is what they are saying, you will hear me.
“I will shout out.
“For now, I want to reassure Nigerians that the governors’ forum means well for the country.
“Majority of us are behind Mr. President and we are determined to work together collectively so that we have one monopolistic democracy in Nigeria.
“The government that can deliver the dividends for the good of Nigeria.
“I think that is all that matters.
“There is no room for any acrimony.
“I will not be a party to any divisive tendency that will tend to turn the forum into a kind of a trade union.
“I will not support that.”
Equally, Akpabio said that the country would continue to engage in constitution review for many years to come, noting that Nigeria came together through various committees and military structures.
He however said that the expected change and generally acceptable constitution would emerge gradually, adding that the current review would only succeed in fine-tuning and ensuring democracy deepens in the country.
He said: “There will still be a lot of agitations.
“The only one I think we can actually focus on and succeed in the immediate is the issue of state creation.
“Not that I don’t support it, but when we are looking at the issue of state creation, we should also look at the viability of state so that we don’t end up creating state on the basis of ethnicity or tribal sentiments and all that.
“We must really look at the way we can manage what we have today and ensure that we have a holistic development of all the states of the federation instead of partitioning the country into ethnic or tribal groups.
“We may end up with over 300 states.”
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