“We will encourage each other in this journey of faith, and join our hands together. We will not break our ranks nor break our steps. Akwa Ibom is on the march, and there is no stopping us.”
COVER STORY
Udom Emmanuel September, 2015
ARISE!
Let’s build T the future together
he Akwa Ibom story began perhaps inadvertently with the founding of Ibibio Union, a progressive cultural association, to better the lot of the generic Ibibio nation (people of Ikot Ekpene, Uyo, Eket, Itu, Abak and Ikot Abasi Divisions of old Calabar Province) in April 1928. When agitation for the creation of a separate State by various minority ethnic groups in the former Eastern Region proliferated in the early 1950s, the association which had by 1948 metamorphosed to ‘Ibibio State Union’ became a tool for the pursuance of this cause of state creation.
By Imo-owo Mbede
The agitation for a State was an arduous quest for the founding fathers. It was exasperating when the Federal Government embarked on state creation twice in 1967 and 1976., but the founding fathers remained unrelenting, nonetheless. Then suddenly, the administration of General Ibrahim Babangida conceded to the “genuine, consistent and lawfully pursued” request of the people, and created Akwa Ibom State from old Cross River State on the 23rd day of September in 1987. Fast-forward to 2017 and Akwa Ibom celebrates the 30th anniversary of her creation. 19
