By Soni Daniel

Akwa Ibom State has distanced itself from the proposed Oil Rivers State, being listed as one of the states to be created as part of the implementation of the National Conference Report by the Federal Government.

Former Minister of Lands and Housing, Chief Nduese Essien, who spoke on behalf of Akwa Ibom delegates to the conference, described as fraud, the attempt by certain persons to foist the creation of Oil Rivers State from Rivers and Akwa Ibom States on the people of the two states without their knowledge and consent.

Chief Essien, who was a delegate to the confab, said the issue of creating the so-called Oil Rivers State was never discussed and did not feature on any part of the report of the conference.

Essien said that at no point throughout the duration of the conference did the issue of creating any state out of Akwa Ibom come up for discussion either in the plenary or at the committee level, as none of the delegates made any such demand.

The delegate, who expressed shock and disappointment with the inclusion of Oil Rivers State among the proposed states listed for creation by the Federal Government, called on the Presidency to urgently speak on the matter before the election on Saturday in order to douse the tension generated by the ugly development.