Ibom Deep Sea Port Of ‘Waiting For Godot:’ The APC Web Of Lies

OpenLife News reports that in what is perfectly Samuel Beckett’s play “Waiting for Godot,” which exposes, in some important respects, the meaninglessness of human waiting for salvation, answers, or a sense of purpose that may never arrive, the unfulfilled Ibom Deep Sea Port promises which was reenacted in Uyo last Friday by the APC has become worrisome.

Like Vladimir and Estragon in Beckett’s tragic comedy, waiting endlessly by a tree for a man who never comes, consoling themselves with the lie that “tomorrow he will come,” the people of Akwa Ibom have been made to wait, election after election, for a seaport that never comes.

And last Friday, November 6, 2026, at the Godswill Akpabio International Stadium, Uyo, the APC staged the latest act of the play.

The Latest Re-enactment In Uyo

President Bola Tinubu was in Uyo for a reception and APC presidential rally in his honour. Governor Umo Eno mounted the podium and made the familiar plea: “Give us Ibom Deep Seaport, we will deliver two million votes. This deep seaport is capable of unlocking the economy of the state, the South-South region and Nigeria at large.”

Tinubu turned to the crowd, asked, “Will you vote?” and then declared: “Okay, It’s approved. Your request for the Ibom Deep Sea Port is hereby approved.”

The crowd cheered. “Thank you, President! Thank you, President!”

It was theatrics. It was Godot all over again. Because, according to the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC), this port has already been “approved” before, several times.

How Many Times Will APC Approve The Same Port? — NDC

In a statement on Sunday, signed by its National Publicity Secretary, Osa Director, Esq., titled “APC’s Endless Lies and Deceit: How Many Times Will APC Approve Ibom Deep Sea Port?”, the NDC asked the question every Akwa Ibom son and daughter should now be asking.

NDC recalled that the Federal Executive Council (FEC), under former President Muhammadu Buhari, had on December 16, 2020, approved the implementation of the first phase of the $4.6 billion Ibom Deep Sea Port project.

That approval named Bollore/Power China as the preferred bidder and was intended to pave the way for the commencement of construction.

Six years later, not a single quay wall has been built. Not a single ship has berthed.

The NDC also recalled that Tinubu himself, as APC presidential candidate, first promised the port during his 2023 campaign at the same stadium in Uyo, on January 30, 2023.

His words then: “We will do mechanised farming. We will export food from Akwa Ibom. We will build your seaport.”

He cited the Lekki Deep Seaport, developed during his time as Lagos governor, as proof he could do it.

More than three years after that promise, and after he became President, the project remains unbuilt.

Yet on Friday, he came back to the same stadium to “approve” it again.

“In a brazen display of ignorance of statecraft and the elevation of grand deceit as a campaign strategy, President Tinubu, as APC presidential candidate, first promised the port during his 2023 campaign,” the NDC said.

“Obviously, this is another round of cheap promises that will not be kept or honoured. Just as before, so it will be now — empty promises. All talk and no action.” NDC clarified.

A Port Conceived, Promised, Re-Promised

The Ibom Deep Sea Port was originally conceived as the Ibaka Deep Seaport and Industrial City under former Governor Victor Attah who governed the State between 1999 and 2007.

It was meant to be a major maritime and industrial hub along the Atlantic in Mbo and Ibeno, with a natural depth of about 19 metres — no dredging needed — to serve as a transhipment hub for the Gulf of Guinea, create thousands of jobs, and unlock the economy of Akwa Ibom, the South-South and Nigeria.

Instead, it has become Nigeria’s most durable campaign prop. Every election cycle, it is dusted up, re-announced, re-approved, and re-promised.

After the election, it is returned to the shelf. The NDC compared the pattern to other unfulfilled APC pledges, including the promise of uninterrupted electricity supply, where Tinubu once told Nigerians not to re-elect him if he failed to deliver.

The Web Of Lies

In the statement, Osa Director described the APC web of lies as alarming.He pointed to the 2020 approval that never saw the light of day, the promise made by President Tinubu in 2023 which has now been consigned to the dustbin of history, as well as the 2024 and March 2026 assurances that also came to nothing.

He said the oral re-approval in November 2026 — given during campaigns in exchange for two million votes, without Federal Executive Council approval, without any gazetted FEC decision, without a ministry statement, without a funding arrangement, without a cost, without a timeline, and without any contractor mobilised to site — represents the height of democratic inanity.

Full Statement

The Full Statement signed by Osa Director, Esq, reads:
President Tinubu, while campaigning in Uyo, has promised and granted approval for the construction of the Ibom Deep Sea Port.

What a hocus-pocus, what hogwash, and what barefaced lies and shenanigans of a rudderless party! How many times will the APC approve the Ibom Deep Sea Port?

President Buhari approved it in December 2020. The Federal Executive Council gave approval for the implementation of the first phase of the $4.6 billion Ibom Deep Sea Port (IDSP) during its meeting on December 16, 2020.

That approval named Bollore/Power China as the preferred bidder and was meant to allow construction to commence.

In a brazen display of ignorance of statecraft and the elevation of grand deceit as a campaign strategy, President Tinubu, as APC presidential candidate, first promised the port during his 2023 campaign.

At the APC campaign rally at the Godswill Akpabio International Stadium in Uyo on 30 January 2023, he told supporters: “We will do mechanised farming. We will export food from Akwa Ibom. We will build your seaport.”

Unfortunately, as is characteristic of the APC, they never fulfilled the promise. Over three years down the line, President Tinubu on Friday, 6 November 2026, had to promise again to construct the long-awaited Ibom Deep Sea Port project in Akwa Ibom State.

Obviously, this is another round of cheap promises that will not be kept or honoured. Just as before, so it will be now — empty promises. All talk and no action.

As Nigerians are still waiting for the APC and President Tinubu to give us uninterrupted electricity supply, so Akwa Ibomites are waiting endlessly for the promised deep sea port that has become a campaign tool of deceit.

Nigerians must shine their eyes and dump the APC into the abyss of socio-political irrelevance and make a new Nigeria possible.

Indeed, a New Nigeria is POssible with NDC.