Akwa Ibom: State where commissioners, others, kneel for Akpabio’s

Kneeling, bowing or prostrating for
the wife of Akwa Ibom State
governor, Mrs. Unoma Akpabio, is a
common feature in Akwa Ibom
state.
Those who do not oblige to this
concept are often considered to be
anti-Akpabio’s administration.
A member in the Akwa Ibom State
House of Assembly representing
Mbo State Constituency, Mrs. Alice
Ekpenyong, knelt before the
governor’s wife at the Independent
National Electoral Commission
office, when they were being
presented with the certificates of
return in 2011.
Similarly, many of the
commissioners in the state cannot
stand before Mrs. Akpabio to talk;
they must either face a different
direction or stoop low before her.
Recently, the Commissioner of
Works, Mr. Don Etim, was found
kneeling to talk to her during one
of the Peoples Democratic Party
campaign rallies in the state.
Etim is the Dean, College of
Commissioners in the state. He is
one of the longest serving
commissioners in Akpabio’s
administration.
Also a commissioner for Women
Affairs and Social Welfare, Dr. (Mrs.)
Glory Edet, was recently seen
fanning her during the
presentation of the 2015
Appropriation Bill to the House of
Assembly.
A strong PDP member, Mr. Silvernus
Okon, stated that the governor’s
wife has no regards for anybody.
He added that even if Etim had
wanted to kneel before her, she
would have cautioned the man
against doing so.
“It is unbelievable that Don Etim
who is old enough to be her father
could descend so low to kneel
before her.
“This tells you the type of people
that we have in the state. Even if
Etim had wanted to kneel for her,
we expected her to have stopped
him and cautioned him against
doing so in future,” he said.
All attempts to get Etim to react to
why he knelt before the governor’s
wife failed as calls to his phone
indicated that it had been switched
off.
A text message was also sent to
him which he did not reply.