"What an emergency milk of kindness."
To gain the support of transport operators in the state ahead of Saturday's election, the Akwa Ibom State Government has announced a temporary suspension of all levies and daily tickets to operators of tricycles and mini-buses in the state.
The suspension which takes effect from Monday would terminate on the eve of the governorship and House of Assembly election - Friday.
In a statement from the Commissioner for Transport in the state, Uno Uno, the state government said the gesture was to enable the operators to "breathe a sigh of relief" amidst the nationwide cash crunch.
"The general public, particularly operators of commercial tricycle and minibuses and the Compliance and Monitoring team are hereby notified of this development.
"In continued support for the State government, transporters are urged to use the 5 days of grace to prepare to take active part in the governorship and state assembly elections slated on 18 March.
"It is hoped that in response to the kind gesture of the State government, transporters will remain law-abiding and shun all forms of violence throughout the period of the elections," Mr Uno said.
Commercial mini-bus and tricycle operators in the state pay N300 and N200 respectively as daily tickets to the state ministry of Transport.
Findings by PREMIUM TIMES revealed that besides the N300 daily ticket, commercial minibus operators in the state also pay N4, 500 every six months or N9, 000 annually for renewal of "road worthiness" - an operational permit from the Ministry of Transport.
A minibus operator in the state who preferred to be anonymous said the operational permit number otherwise called "MOT" is boldly written on each minibus and tricycle without which such vehicle would be impounded by a taskforce.
Reactions
A resident of the state, Atuekong Paul said the action of the government was borne out of "fear of defeat" in the governorship election which is five days away.
"What an emergency milk of kindness," Mr Paul said in a Facebook post on Sunday.
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is the ruling party in the state. The governorship candidate of the party, Umo Eno, is Governor Udom Emmanuel's preferred successor.
In the official Facebook page of the state government where the statement was posted, residents who commented on the gesture expressed mixed feelings about it.
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"Politically motivated. Better strategy, because the people are used to this outdated strategy," Kufre Elegant, a Facebook user, commented.
"Too late to help the PDP government (in) Akwa Ibom state, their days are numbered," Don Abia said.
While some users described the gesture as "commendable," others dubbed it as "vote buying," and "laughable".
Why now?
A commercial minibus operator in the state who gave his name as Isaac questioned the timing of the government gesture.
"Why now," Mr Isaac asked.
He said if the government wanted to assist them, it should have started the gesture in January, and not days before the election.
Mr Isaac, who said the state government's gesture was meant to give advantage to the PDP candidate, told PREMIUM TIMES he would not vote for Mr Eno at the poll despite ticket suspension.
A Tricycle operator, Udeme Akpan, on his part questioned why the gesture was not announced during the presidential election.
According to him, it shows the "state government is more interested in the governorship election that was why it announced the gesture now."
"Just five days because of the election. What happens after," Mr Akpan asked, adding "Mr Udom is looking for votes."
He confirmed to PREMIUM TIMES that ticketing agents were not found on the road on Monday morning, a development that suggests the new gesture had taken effect.
