Governor Godswill  Akpabio of Akwa Ibom State  has enjoined elective leaders in a democratice dispensation to always endeavour to compensate those who help them into power.

He said this at the weekend, while taking a swipe at the past administration in the state for abandoning past chairmen of the Peoples  Democratic Party (PDP) and their families, even in death.

To show leadership by example, the governor, who was speaking in Oron at the burial of a former chairman of the party,  Chief Tony Emenyi,  used the occasion to  endow an Education Fund worth N10 million in honour of the late Chief Joe Ating, pioneer chairman of PDP in the state.

Ating died about five years ago  but, according to reports, no government official attended his burial. The government also reportedly refused to sponsor his medical trip abroad, a similar fate suffered by Emenyi  before the assumption of office of Akpabio; hence the governor  expressed surprise at such insensitivity and wondered why the previous administration never took the welfare of the loyal party leaders as a priority.

While arguing that the invaluable contributions of the past party leaders needed to be appreciated, the governor then wondered why some people play politics with other people’s misfortunes. He was obviously reacting to the rumour that a former governor, whom Emenyi  as PDP chairman  worked to enthrone in office, was planning to cause problem at the venue of the burial.

He cautioned the people to ignore any threats by some aggrieved political leaders in the state to foment trouble during the burial, attributing that to botched attempts by the persons  to relaunch themselves into relevance; having failed in their respective political endeavours.

Mr. Secondus Uche, who  represented  the national chairman of the party, Prince Vincent Ogbulafor, at the occasion recalled that, as PDP chairman in Rivers State during the tenure of Emenyi, they had to mobilise funds for the deceased to go for medical attention abroad when it was obvious that no help would come from  Akwa Ibom State government.