By Chioma Onuegbu, Uyo

A chieftain of the People’s Democratic Party, PDP, in Akwa Ibom State, Mr. James Iniama has explained that he supports governor Udom Emmanuel’s Maintain Peace Movement, MPM, initiative because it would strengthen the peace being enjoyed currently in the state.

Iniama who spoke while fielding questions from newsmen in Uyo, the state capital,
said that he would support any philosophy that would avert another era of kidnapping, maiming, and killing of the people especially as the next general elections draws closer.

He stressed that nobody would want to experience the level of insecurity that bedeviled the state before and after the 2007 general elections, adding that the situation then had forced him to leave the state immediately he lost out in the 2007 general election as the governorship candidate of the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria party.

He therefore, appealed to Akwa Ibom people to embrace the Maintain Peace Movement initiated to ensure that the state witnessed a peaceful transition of power in 2023.

His words: “In 2007 Akwa Ibom experienced the era of kidnapping, the era where people were maimed, and killed like rats on the streets. Definitely we don’t want to go back to that era. We prefer peace.

“And just the day the court of Appeal gave the ruling confirming that my opponent was duly elected I left this state. I didn’t leave the state because I do not love my state, no, I left because this state became extremely unsafe.

“Remember most of us migrated to Calabar. We shouldn’t experience that affliction a second time. And as a Christian State that we are, there is a verse in the Bible that says “seek peace and pursue it”. As individuals, we are enjoined by God to seek peace, and walk towards peace.

“So I support the Maintain Peace movement initiative of governor Udom Emmanuel. And for me it is a philosophy that each and every Akwa Ibom person should embrace. Let parents begin to teach their children to live together, peaceably, let us emphasize peace in our schools, and let our pastors begin to teach peace”

Asked why he decided to aspire for the governorship position in 2023, Iniama an Estate Surveyor and Valuer, said he has what it takes to lead the state given his wealth of experience in management of businesses and in politics of the state.

“Akwa Ibom people is in dire need of a leader who understand the investments philosophy of the incumbent administration. I am talking of understanding what it takes to manage businesses. And that is all I have been doing all my life, managing businesses at the private sector level.

“The people needs a competent leader who understands what it is that needs to be done; somebody who is willing to fill the gaps to meet their needs”, Iniama said