By Egufe Yafuborghi & Chioma Onuegbu, Uyo

GOVERNOR Umo Eno of Akwa Ibom State, on Monday, swore in the 31 new local government chairmen elected in the October 5 polls.

Thirty of those sworn in were elected on the platform of the People’s Democratic Party, PDP, with the remaining one from the All Progressives Congress, APC.

The day before, the winners had been issued Certificates of Return by the Chairman of Akwa Ibom State Independent Electoral Commission, AKISIEC.

At their swearing-in at the Government House, Uyo, Governor Eno said that his administration would work collaboratively with them to continue to deliver good Governance to the people.

Eno specially admonished the new chairman of Essien Udim LG, Ntiedo Usoro, to bring the people together and let them see him as Essien Udim council chairman and not Chairman of APC.

He said, “To the Chairman of Essien Udim LGA, your election and subsequent swear-in today means our process was fair. Nobody can claim that it was not free. It was fair and it was credible and that’s why you are here.

“It was not the winner takes it all, so we expect that you work with us, imbibe our spirit, and cooperate with the government of the State to ensure we work together and continue to deliver dividends of democracy to our people. There’s no APC or PDP local government in governance.

“To all other chairmen and indeed our party faithful, losing one LGA in an election doesn’t mean we have failed. It simply means we have allowed democracy to thrive. You can lose the battle but you can still win the war. I know that we feel bad, but this is the beauty of democracy”

The governor stressed that losing just one local government chairmanship seat does not mean that Akwa Ibom is no longer a PDP-controlled state.

“So we’ll do everything to work with our party faithful in Essien Udim LGA and ensure they derive the benefits available at the state level.

“We will continue to work collaboratively with all of you to continue to deliver good Governance to our people. That’s what they expect us to do “