President Goodluck Jonathan has received the unwavering support of the Ibibio Youth Federation just as the IYF cautioned Governor Godswill Akpabio of Akwa Ibom State against fanning the embers of hatred between the Ibibios and the President.
In a statement issued in Abuja on Friday by the group’s leader Mike Achaempong, IYF said it observed that Mr. Akpabio has been going round the South-South states with the claim that the entire Ibibio race is not in support of President Jonathan.
“We wish to reiterate the unwavering support of the entire Ibibio race to President Jonathan’s administration and to the president as a person contrary to Mr. Akpabio’s latest unprovoked campaign of calumny against us,” Mr. Achaempong said in the statement.
The group warned the governor to desist from ridiculing the Ibibio race, saying as an ethnic group, the Ibibio remain solidly behind the president and his aspiration.
“We voted massively for President Jonathan in the past and we shall do the same for him again and always,” the group said.
The youth group also claimed that the Ibibio are being singled out for ‘unstatesmanlike’ treatment by the governor.
“We urge the president to discountenance any suggestion from Akpabio or from whatever quarter that the Ibibio race is against him as a person or his administration or political aspiration. The president should instead count on the Ibibio support anytime he chooses to present himself for re-election,” the group said.
