SUPREME COURT VERDICT: GOV ENO ACKNOWLEDGES BASSEY ALBERT’S FELICITATIONS …Promises To Upgrade Ibom Icon Hotel, Golf Course

By The Evangelist News edition, Sunday, January 14, 2024.

Akwa Ibom State Governor, Pastor Umo Eno has acknowledged, with appreciation, the message of felicitations and declaration of support for his administration by the candidate of the Young Progressives Party (YPP), in the last Governorship elections, Senator Bassey Albert Akpan.

In a 3-page letter openly written, and titled, “A Message of Gratitude and Hope,” Senator Bassey had responded to his defeat at the Supreme Court saying, “I extend my heartfelt congratulations to His Excellency, Governor Umo Eno, and his government on their victory.

“I am confident and pray that he will work tirelessly towards the progress and development of our beloved State.

“As we move forward, I pledge my full support to His Excellency and his administration.

“I encourage all of us to keep Governor Pastor Umo Eno in our thoughts and prayers as he takes on this significant responsibility”, Senator Akpan concluded.

Speaking at the reception kitty by the Uyo Golf and Country Club in honour of their member and Secretary to the State Government, Prince Enobong Uwah, at Ibom Icon Hotel and Golf Resort, Uyo, Governor Eno appreciated the YPP flag bearer for his humane gesture and expressed confidence that his administration “will work tirelessly towards the progress and development of Akwa Ibom State.”

He reiterated his call for all to put politics behind and join the united front to build a better Akwa Ibom State.

“Akwa Ibom belongs to all of us. I acknowledge the letter our distinguished brother, Senator Bassey Albert put out on the internet. I want to believe that he’s responding to my call that we all work together and I’m prepared to work with everyone of us. Akwa Ibom should be and is indeed a model State in this country.

“He has a lot to offer us as a man who has been in the Senate for two terms and has been Committee Chairman for Upstream Petroleum sector. He has a lot of contacts we can leverage on. So now that the Supreme Court has laid this to rest, let us also, at least lay it to rest in our hearts and be sincere as we work together because that’s the way to build the State,” he said.

The governor also commended the Ibom Golf Club for maintaining their unity as a sport club, void of political divisiveness.

He promised to upgrade the golf course and the entire Ibom Icon Hotel to enable it host International tournaments, as he acknowledged sports as a unifying force across the world.

“Because of the tournament that you are planning, government will work to do whatever is necessary to make this place better, both the golf course and the hotel itself. If we are expecting international guest, we must raise the bar and we have between now and November to get things done,” he stated.

Secretary to the State Government and celebrator at the reception ceremony, Prince Enobong Uwah, thanked the Governor for identifying with the club in celebrating him and gracing the event with his presence.

He expressed gratitude to the club, golfers from distant states and friends for making their ways down to celebrate him.

Earlier, the Captain, Ibom Golf and Country Club, Barr Usenobong Akpabio, congratulated Governor Eno on his affirmation by Nigeria’s apex court and thanked him for appointing their member as the State scribe and gracing the event in his honour which he described as a celebration of grace and elevation.

The Uyo Golf Captain paid tributes to former Governor Victor Attah for creating an international golf resort and a five-star hotel in one location, describing the facility as the best in West Africa.

He maintained that the facility has graduated Akwa Ibom from being a tourism potential state to that of tourism reality, and informed the governor of the club’s bidding to host next year’s world golf finals in the state.

On his part, the Calabar Golf Club Board of Trustee Chairman, Mr. Peter Kayode Bello, said the whole country was proud of Ibom Golf Course and thanked the government and golfers in Akwa Ibom for maintaining the golf course.

He assured that the appointment of Enobong Uwah as SSG will be of immense benefit as he will bring the honesty that characterizes the game of golf into the administration.

Highpoint of the event was the decoration of Governor Umo Eno as Grand Patron of the Ibom Golf and Country Club and presentation of a golf kits to him, while he in turn presented a trophy to the overall winner of the recent golf tournament in the State, Mr. Onofiok Onofiok .