Boom:

John Obot Represents Resilience in the Akwa Ibom Spirit, Says Ekong Sampson

…as Readmania team hails Watbridge Hotels over excellent facility, steady power supply

By Theophilus Akpan

Senator representing Akwa Ibom South in the National Assembly and Vice Chairman, Senate Committees on Education and FCT, Senator Ekong Sampson, has said that the Guinness World Records marathoner, John Obot represented the resilience in the Akwa Ibom spirit.

Dr Sampson made the remarks when he visited John Obot yesterday at the City View Hall, Watbridge Hotels, Uyo. John Obot, the marathoner is attempting to break a Guinness World Records for the longest marathon reading aloud by an individual.

Senator Sampson spent about two hours in the reading hall. He listened to Obot’s rendition of ‘The Lion and the Oil Palm’ written by Justice Egbert Udo Udoma, which appears as an appendix in ‘Law and Statesmanship: The Legacy of Sir Udo Udoma’, one of Senator Sampson’s books.

The Akwa Ibom South Senator equally sits as advisor to Watbridge Hotels, Uyo – who are hosting the World Record attempt Readmania and have given the entire Letters House facility for free to John Obot and his team.

According to Senator Sampson, John Obot has led by example and represented the resilience that ‘drove our heroes to do very well – from Clement Isong to Vincent Enyeama, to Philip Effiong, Sir Udo Udoma – you find a resilience spirit in an Akwa Ibom person, and that spirit is what is playing out here, today.’

Barr. Ekong Sampson hinted that he had to cut short his vacation abroad to come down and cheer the marathoner and be a part of the history because he was a proud Akwa Ibomite.

Senator Sampson, who is the patron of Uyo Book Club, thanked the book club for blazing the trail, saying the club’s founder, Dr Udeme Nana has worked very hard to reposition the club and to deepen the consciousness needed about the waning reading culture in the society.

Sampson re-echoed his advocacy for a better, safer and saner society, which he said can only be achieved when more books are read.

“The more we read, the safer we are as a society. The less we read, the endangered we are as humanity,” he stressed.

In his response, the founder of Uyo Book Club and Programme Director of Readmania, Dr Udeme Nana saluted Senator Sampson’s commitment to the advancement of intellectualism, describing him as an ‘intellectual politician, writer and poet’, who loves books and worked hard to support the push to arrest the declining reading culture in the society.

Dr Nana added that if most Nigerian politicians were like Dr Sampson, the country would have been better, emphasizing that one of the problems the country has, was having leaders without intellectual rigour.

Dr Nana used the opportunity to extend the appreciation of the Readmania team to Watbridge Hotels & Suites, hailing its excellent facilities and power supply.

According to Dr Nana, the facilities that Watbridge Hotels has given for the Readmania project were worth millions, interrogating where the team would have raised such money to pay for the facilities.
He challenged other Philanthropists in the State to support the reading marathon and the laudable vision of the Book Club initiative.