President of the Senate, Godswill Akpabio, yesterday commended President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Vice-President Kashim Shettima, members of the National Assembly and the Federal Executive Council for the transformation that has taken place in the country since 2023.
Akpabio gave the commendation while speaking at the funeral Service of his late In-law, Elder Essien Pius Ubeng, conducted by the Methodist Church, Nigeria, Ukanna Diocese of Essien Udim Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State.
“Let me use this opportunity to on behalf of the people of Akwa Ibom State, thank President Bola Tinubu, his deputy, Kashim Shettima, members of the National Assembly and the Federal Executive Council for the development and transformation witnessed across and the length and breadth of this country since 2023.
“In the last three years, we have witnessed tremendous and positive changes in the economy, security and infrastructural development of this great country. We are not yet there, but we have since left where we used to be.
With the support and prayers of Nigerians, we will be there. “I thank our vice president, my colleagues in the National Assembly and the Federal Executive Council for standing by our president to ensure that Nigerians sleep with their two eyes closed, deliver real democracy dividends to Nigerians without political, religious or ethnic considerations”
In his tribute at the service, Akpabio said: “I had known Elder (Hon.) Essien Pius Ubeng long before our relationship evolved into a filial bond that pigeonholed us as in-laws. For further elucidation, late Ubeng married my sister.
Our upbringing was soused in sizzling love among us as siblings. When late Ubeng joined the family as an in-law, he was an easy blend because he shared the same values and understood the power of love and how it could advance the cause of a family.
“The family was blessed to have late Ubeng. He did not only fit into the role of a good in-law, he fitted into the family matrix, taking the place of a big brother and executing the duties of that responsibility with warmth, love and care.
He made all of us a part of him and we equally made him a part of us. “It is argued that of all the manifestations of man, which are the physical, the spiritual, the mental and the emotional, the greatest weakness of man is the emotion. Late Essien Pius Ubeng was blessed with a balanced emotion.
He always managed his emotion in a manner that was considered directly proportional to civilisation. It was this equanimity that earned him respect at secular and ecclesiastic spheres as a community leader and Lay Preacher of the Methodist Church respectively.”
