A source close to the camp of Senator Godswill Akpabio has just informed News Band that the Hon. I. U. Akpabio mentioned in the report was ACTUALLY an uncle to the Senator and not the father.
We regret any inconveniences the report may have caused anyone.
See the original report below:
An old document has emerged showing that Hon. I. U. Akpabio, the father of the President of the Senate, Mr. Godswill Akpabio, served as a pre-independence Minister of Education when Chief Nnamdi Azikiwe (Zik) was the Prime Minister of the Eastern Nigeria.
The document is a letter signed by Chief Azikiwe, the Commissioner for Eastern Region Nigeria, and addressed to Dr. Horace Mann Bond, Lincoln University Chester City Pennsylvania, U. S. A., dated 13th October, 1955.
In the letter, Zik informed Dr. Mann Bond of his proposed visit, to “be accompanied by the Hon. I. U. Akpabio, (Columbia University M. A.), who is Minister of Education”.
The aim of the visit, according to Zik, was to make contacts to facilitate the establishment of the University of Nigeria, more particularly with reference to staffing members of the faculties of arts, engineering, science, and institutes of agriculture, architecture, home economics, dramatics, education, finance, fisheries, forestry, journalism, librarianship, music, physical education, social work, and veterinary science.
See a copy of the letter below:
Another source, however, insisted that the Akpabio in reference was Senate President’s uncle, and not his father.
According to a source, the Eastern Region of Nigeria in 1955 included the following states that exist today:
- Abia
- Anambra
- Ebonyi
- Enugu
- Imo
- Cross River
- Akwa Ibom
- Rivers, and,
- Bayelsa.
The Eastern Region was one of the three major regions of Nigeria during the British colonial period.
It was created in 1939, when the Colony of Nigeria was divided into three regions: the Northern Region, the Western Region, and the Eastern Region.
The Eastern Region was the most populous region of Nigeria, and it was also the most industrialized region. Read more.
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