By Olusegun Olanrewaju
A former president, Goodluck Jonathan, yesterday sent a strong warning ahead of the 2023 general elections.
He warned Nigerians not to make the mistake of voting those he described as killers into elective positions.
Jonathan gave the charge yesterday in Uyo during a special interdenominational service to celebrate the 35th anniversary of the creation of Akwa Ibom State.
He said, among others, “In 2023, you must not make the mistake of voting killers. Those who will carry knives, guns, and all kinds of gadgets to go and kill people because of politics are the enemies of society. If you kill to become a leader, you will continue to kill to remain a leader.”
The ex-president added, “The people will continue to suffer. Make sure that from the House of Assembly to the House of Representatives to Senate to governor, you vote for the right people in Akwa Ibom State.”
Jonathan added that he had monitored the growth of Akwa Ibom and that he has been visiting the state at least once a year since he joined the defunct Oil Mineral Producing Areas Development Commission (OMPADEC), now Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) in 1994, as an assistant director.
Thanking the youth of the state for not vandalising infrastructure, the ex-president recalled how some people sabotaged his development efforts in the power sector by using arc saws to fell towers because they wanted Nigeria to remain in darkness.
According to Johnathan, the election of Governor Udom Emmanuel should teach politicians a good lesson, especially those who doubted his ability to manage human beings.
The governor was an executive director at Zenith Bank before he was appointed Secretary to the Akwa Ibom State Government, a position he later resigned from to vie for the governorship of the state, which he won in 2015.
Meanwhile, the Akwa Ibom State Governor, Udom Emmanuel, used the occasion to thank the people of the state for their support.
He described this year’s state anniversary as his last as the state governor.
Emmanuel added that Akwa Ibom had become a state with a “strong national story and a sparkling destination of choice for Nigerians and others around the world”.
He lauded the people for the choice of “Moving Forward,” as the theme of the celebration.
Emmanuel also used the occasion to remind them that in “moving forward, we have to also look back.”
Alluding to the scripture, he pointed out how Joseph, in the Bible later became the Prime Minister of Egypt.
He added that the children of Israel suffered because of Joseph’s mistake.
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“Joseph made a mistake in Egypt. When he was about to go, he did not look at the issue of who succeeded him, and that is why the children of Israel suffered.
“If you are a God-sent man you must also learn. I’ve learnt from what Joseph did and today we went back to God and I want to appreciate all Akwa Ibomites because a man after God’s heart will come after another man after God’s heart,” the governor said.
He vowed, before leaving office next year, to complete the international worship centre that his administration is building in the state.
*Be united to defeat enemies of nation- Adeboye
Also, the General Overseer (GO) of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG), Enoch Adeboye, has urged Christian to be united irrespective of their denominations.
Speaking at the Chapel of Mercy, Dadin-Kowa, Jos, yesterday, Adeboye said he was in Jos to commiserate with the family of the late Rev. Isaac Oyebamiji, the Founder and Senior Pastor of Chapel of Mercy, as well as members of the church.
The GO said, “So, it has not been easy with me trying to accept the fact that he is no more, but I’m here today to condole and pray for his family and indeed all members of this congregation.
”The servant of God has finished his assignment on earth and has gone to be with his maker; ours is to live right so that we will meet him on the resurrection day.”
He added, “But I want to use this opportunity to call on Christians in Nigeria to be united to defeat the enemies of the nation.”
Adeboye advised family members of the deceased to emulate the good ways of their father and sustain the legacies he left behind.
Responding, the widow of the deceased, Olutoyin Oyebamiji, thanked Adeboye for the visit, describing it as encouraging.
Adeboye was accompanied for the visit by his wife, Foluke.
Oyebamiji, 64, died in February after a brief illness in the United States.
