Gov. Akpabio’s Secret Agenda for 2015. – Hon Dan Akpan. (Etinan Federal Constituency) When I heard that my state governor, His, Excellency, Chief Godswill Obot Akpabio is organizing Town hall meetings in the 10 Federal Constituencies in Akwa Ibom State, I had expected the governor would be presenting seven – year scorecard to the people of my constituency, Etinan Federal Constituency. But to my greatest surprise, the governor rather turned the event to a political campaign for his preferred governorship aspirants in order to attract the support of the people. I was also shocked that the governor was still embarking on this Town hall project despite the well-informed contrary. I wish to emphasize that in various publications in some national newspapers, these key stakeholders have openly aligned themselves with the position of the National Chairman of the party that PDP primaries would be free and fair contest among the aspirants for the governorship position, and indeed for all elective position Despite my misgivings, I had hoped to attend the Federal constituency – Etinan Federal Constituency – on Monday 10th March 2014, with my constituents and political leaders in the Constituency. But to my utter disappointment, as a member of the Federal House of Representatives who represents this constituency, I was not invited to the meeting. I was equally shocked that several political leaders from my constituency like Otuekong Sunny Jackson, PDP Leader, Mr. Umana Okon Umana, former SSG, Rt. Hon. Aniefiok Thompson, South South PDP officer and former Dep. Speakers of the State House of Assembly and Obong Nse Akpaneno, former PDP State Officer were not invited to this Town hall meeting Other notable PDP leader in the area who were excluded from the meeting are Obonganwan Imo Isemin, wife of former governor; Chief A.S. Udofia, community Leader and Ambassador Sam Edem, former Chairman of NDDC. Among those who managed to enter the hall, some notable leaders like Hon Onofiok Luke, a member of the House of Assembly were not allowed to speak while Senator Ita Enang’s speech was blanked out on the state TV. I acknowledge that many of my constituents however attended the event, which was shown live on TV, but they were disallowed entry into the hall. These persons who constitute the critical voting population in the area, expressed their opinions through placards which read; No to imposition of candidates; we want free, fair and inclusive governorship primaries; No. manipulation of PDP primaries; and ‘Our national Chairman has spoken, Akpabio do not manipulate the forthcoming primaries, among other. I note that these placards reflect the position of our Elders Council which was published earlier this year, and indeed the well-received pronouncements of the National Chairman of our great party that the primaries will be open and free, and all aspirants would be allowed to participate. Govt. Akpabio himself acknowledged the presence of our supporters outside hall and their placards in his opening remarks. I must reiterate the well known axiom that in a democracy, every issue must be subjected to the opinion of the electorate though a free and fair voting process in the same vein, I urge Gov. Akpabio to allow Akwa Ibom people to choose their governorship candidate, and indeed all other candidates through free and fair primaries. I accept that the governor has the right to support any aspirant of his choice for the governorship primaries. But it is a travesty of democratic principles for him to subjugate the wishes of the people through a flawed and manipulated process in which some aspirations from a certain part of the state would be barred. As I watched the event on TV, I saw the governor emphasizing on his well-advertised ambition of being elected senator in 2015 to represent Ikot Ekpene Senatorial District. I note that since 1960, Abak Federal Constituency, which is part of his senatorial district, has not produced a senator. Since those who come to equity must come with clean hands, I am shocked that Chief Akpabio is not conceding the senate seat to Abak people who have been waiting for their turn to produce a senator next year. The Bible admonishes us to remove the log in our eyes before we see the speak in our neighbour.s eyes (Matt. 7 vs 5). I therefore urge Gov. Akpabio to respect the zoning arrangement in his senatorial district before he speaks of justice and equity. The governor should note that the God of Justice is not a God of Double standard. As a member of the Federal House of Representatives who has sworn to uphold the Constitution of the Country, I am therefore persuaded to align myself with the cross section of Akwa Ibom people, the patriarch of Ibibio people & the Ntisong of Akwa Esop Imaisong Ibibio, Nstisong Essein Ekidem; and the Chairman of Ibibio Edlers Council, Chief (Dr.) Okon Akpan Uko. These and many other leaders have repeatedly pleaded that the governorship position should be open for all eligible and interested Akwa Ibomites. I have noted that those invited and hand-picked to speak at the Etinan Federal Constituency Town Hall meeting Monday were carefully arranged by the governor to echo his voice and agenda. Indeed, it was a shock to see the governor acting as both MC of the event and chief Executive of the state. I agree that those who supported the governor’s position at the event yesterday have the right to do so, but warn that they should not have given the impression that they were speaking for my constituency. The views of the speaker of the state house of assembly, Elder Sam Ikon, and those of Idongesit Nkanga, a former military administrator of the state, are well known as those who echo the sound of the governor; they have the right to do so. But it was quite bizarre that Mr. Ikon in his speech said that ‘I congratulate Eket senatorial district for producing the next governor of Akwa Ibom State’. What right has Mr. Speaker to award the governorship position to Eket? I recall that at the town hall meeting for the Eket senatorial district held last week there were disparate opinions from the various speaker on where the governorship position should be zoned to. For example while the paramount rulers of Eket and Onna want the governorship position to be zoned to their respective local government areas, Chief Ndueso Essien, a former minister canvassed for the position to go to Eket, his hometown, and Ntisong Ibibio, a Patriarch and leader of the Ibibios, preferred open free and fair primaries. If indeed there is no consensus among the people of Eket senatorial district, how then can an elected official like the speaker of the state House of Assembly who is not even from Eket senatorial district try to award the governorship to Eket senatorial district. My Conclusion and Position As a true party man and member of the federal house of Representatives, a former local government chairman and former member of the state House of Assembly, I irrevocably align myself with the position already taken by the National chairman of our party to wit: PDP primaries at all levels would be free, open and fair; no aspirant from any part of the state or country would be barred from contesting the primaries. I am distressed that Gov. Akpabio is causing so much tension in the state by talking about zoning and selective contest. This is the exact antithesis to the position of the party as recently enunciated by the national chairman. Why is Gov. Akpabio so afraid of open and free contest? I solemnly vow that the position of Gov. Akpabio on PDP governorship primaries is inferior to the position of our national chairman whose position was recently supported by 64 party leaders in Akwa Ibom State. I noted that Gov. Akpabio is deliberately planning to humiliate, marginalize and frustrate the Ibibios who are the majority ethnic group in the state, and who in 2007 made him a governor, and supported his re-election 2011. I am aware that the governor is planning to convene a meeting of the party at the end of the town hall meeting to railroad the party into selecting some people as the governorship aspirants while others would be barred. I wish to warn that this would be the most undemocratic and draconian action ever taken by any PDP governor since 1999 just to disenfranchise a section of the society. Akwa Ibom people, as represented by their leader across the state have already rejected Akpabio’s hidden agenda of foisting his preferred candidate under the guise of zoning and imposition of candidate. As I stated earlier, the governor’s action is also tantamount to an affront to Mr. President and our national leader who are have stated that PDP will work to enthrone internal democracies within the party. It is pertinent to note that it is only Chief Akpabio who is adopting this town hall scheming just to deceive his people for the purpose of planting his stooge. I therefore believe that these town hall meetings are Akpabio’s secret agenda to exclude some eligible aspirants from certain parts of the state from contesting the 2015 governorship election. blog4all-com.blogspot/2014/03/gov-akpabios-secret-agenda-for-2015-hon.html#more
Posted on: Fri, 14 Mar 2014 09:28:04 +0000
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