Governor Godswill Akpabio of Akwa Ibom State has called on leaders to distinguish between politics and governance, attributing inability to do this as the cause of Africa’s backwardness.

Akpabio stated this yesterday during a service at Living Faith Church (also known as Winners Chapel), Ikot Ebido in Uyo, to commemorate 2014 Democracy Day and seven years of his administration.

“It is time for us to begin to distinguish between politics and governance because they are not the same thing,” the governor said.

According to him, “I don’t care who that person is so along as he or she is a citizen of Akwa Ibom State and has what it takes to govern the state. It is time for us to begin to distinguish between politics and governance because one is different from the other.”

Akpabio said in seven years of his administration, Akwa Ibom has witnessed God’s grace and intervention. He implored the people of the state to pray God to give them a governor they would be proud of in 2015.

“After seven years of God’s grace and faithfulness to us as a state, what can we say but to say thank you Lord! That is why I called you to for this uncommon service, in an uncommon place, in the land of uncommon transformation. Seven years ago we started a journey and we said let God’s will be done. Seven years after, even the blind can fill it that God’s will is done in our dear state,” Akpabio said.

He described the seven years of his administration in the state as years of mixed feelings. He said he was excited with the transformation of Akwa Ibom because that was what God intended for the state. “On the whole, there were moment I used to fill moody and there were moment I used to fill excited,” Akpabio stated.

In his homily entitled “Celebrating the Transforming Effect of God’s Grace”, Provincial Pastor of Living Faith Church, Pastor Joseph Ajibade, noted that God’s grace was the maker of man’s destiny.

Ajibade, who defined grace as “God covering your fault and magnifying your strength,” identified commitment and the value of God’s presence as features of grace. He advised Christians to covet it.

Secretary to the State Government, who is also the Chairman of the Planning Committee of the event, Mr. Udom Emmanuel, said the transformation in Akwa Ibom State in the last seven years showed the grace of God at work in the life of a leader.

“Seven years is a long period when mentioned, but when you are executing projects seven years is a short period. If you go round this state and see what is happening, you will know that it is the grace of God,” he said.

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