Governor Godswill Akpabio A peace meeting between the group of 22 aggrieved People Democratic Party (PDP) governorship aspirants in Akwa Ibom state and Governor Godswill Akpabio in Abuja was almost marred ut became engulfed in an uproar on Saturday, a source at the meeting disclosed. The meeting, which took place at the instance of Akpabio, was initiated as an avenue for the group of 22 to sit at a roundtable with governor Akpabio to iron out their grievances over the December 8 governorship primary in the state which the aspirants had described as being “fraudulent and not transparent.” According to the source, the meeting which was from that point moderated by Engineer Patrick Ekpotu, a former deputy governor in the state, who is also one of the aggrieved, began with the governor’s speech pleading with them to accept Emmanuel Udom as the governorship candidate of the PDP in the state, a position that was outrightly rejected by the group. The source said: “The group’s rejection of Udom as communicated to the governor was “because the process that threw him up was faulty, not transparent and toxic. The December 8 exercise was everything but democratic and this has resulted in several litigations which ought not to be had the process passed credibility test. At a point in the meeting, Akpabio called on Udom, who was also present to plead with the other aspirants. Udom in his speech, insiders in the meeting say, likened his case to that of Jesus who was initially rejected by his people but later turn out to become the saviour. “The allusion to Jesus reportedly infuriated the house as he was variously castigated for his lack of humility. The group of 22 also told Akpabio that Udom cannot win election with such attitude, warning that the PDP would be throwing away its chances of retaining the governorship seat with him as candidate. “They however promised to work for the reelection of President Goodluck Jonathan, but vowed to do everything within their power to stop Udom. Apart from pursuing the substantive suit in the earlier court injunction that was vacated on Friday, December 19 in Abuja, sources also said that the group will on Monday, December 22, also appeal the vacation of the injunction. “Akpabio requested that the group write him a formal letter stating the reasons why they think Udom should not fly the flag of the PDP in the February election, promising to approach the party leadership and the president with the letter for further deliberation’” the source said.
Posted on: Sun, 21 Dec 2014 11:01:52 +0000
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