Governor Udom Emmanuel has stressed that gratitude is a command from God that must not be taken for granted.

The Akwa Ibom State Governor gave the admonition while speaking at a special thanksgiving service held at St. John's Pro Cathedral, Abak, to commemorate the Eightieth Birthday of the State's Deputy Governor, Mr. Moses Ekpo.

Governor Emmanuel commended Mr. Ekpo's gesture of convening the thanksgiving service to acknowledge God's grace despite the trials of life.

Such attitude, he added, must have been the reason for Mr. Ekpo's continuous rising, warning that the life of ingratitude stalls progress and prosperity.

"We are here because giving thanks is a command.

"There are a lot of dangers of ingratitude and a lot of problems we have in today's world is because of that.

"I'm happy today the Deputy Governor has gone through what he calls the trial and triumph and still has cause today to tell God thank you, because the bible says in every situation we must give God thanks.

"This situation you think is so bad may be the best out of the worse situations the devil had wished for you".

Dwelling further on the virtues of Mr. Moses Ekpo, Governor Emmanuel lauded the outstanding intellectual and oratory capacity of his deputy with which, he said, Ekpo has given the state and his government a proud representation at various fora within and outside the state, without need for a guide.

"If I have a choice for a deputy governor tomorrow, I'll still go for Uncle Mo. He's a fantastic person to work with: very accommodating, very understanding, very collaborating and cooperating", the Governor affirmed.

The Governor therefore took out time to thank God for his deputy's 80th birth anniversary and for Akwa Ibom State, especially for the peace enjoyed in the state, as he made donations to support the church building project initiated by Mr. Ekpo on the occasion.

The celebrator, Mr. Moses Ekpo said the occasion availed him an opportunity to appreciate God's help, his successes and failures, trials and triumphs, and for God's anointing on Governor Emmanuel to pilot the affairs of the state and for the humanitarian disposition of the state First Lady, Martha Emmanuel.

Mr. Moses Ekpo also used the occasion to present gifts to four hundred and nineteen widows drawn from all three Senatorial Districts of the state and all church denominations, selected through the instrumentality of the Christians Association of Nigeria.

This, he said, was to demonstrate his gratitude to God at eighty.

The wife of the Governor, Dr. Martha Emmanuel made symbolic presentation to fourteen widows representing the various fronts benefitting from the birthday cum Christmas package.

In his homily culled from Psalm 92:1 and 136:26, Monsignor Iniobong Udoidem outlined the knowledge of one's identity, his capacity to remember God's deeds and the spirit of gratitude as the three things that inspire thanksgiving.

He admonished that as the one Samaritan among the ten lepers that were cleansed came back to thank Jesus, Christians should acknowledge the goodness of God in preserving them despite the restiveness in parts of the nation.

The Priest who commended Governor Emmanuel for his inclinations to the church, and recommended Mr. Moses Ekpo as a good example to follow.