There Was no Ward Congress in AIbom State -Don Etiebet Life member of the BOT of the Peoples Democratic Party, Atuekong Don Etiebet, has declared that there was no ward congress on November 1, 2014 in Akwa Ibom state. Addressing journalists in his Uyo residence on Sunday, November 2, 2014, Etiebet said that he was surprised that despite all the assurances from the National Headquarters of the party, that officials in Akwa Ibom state could still attempt to subvert the will of the people through barefaced manipulation of the process. The Elder statesman stated that the party had a well defined guidelines and regulations guiding the conduct of the ward delegates election and described what took place in the state on Saturday as a sham; a process not known to the PDP electoral process. Atuekong Etiebet alleged that the materials purportedly distributed at the state PDP secretariat were mere photocopied papers, with the originals taken to God-knows-where. He assured that the party at the national level would disregard what took place in the state as it fell terribly shot of what the intention of the party was. He wondered why the chairman of the ward congress committee sent to the state to conduct the election told the world that he was not in the state to conduct any election but to monitor the election. The party elder further stated that the state governor in connivance with the party officials and possibly the congress committee had manipulated the congress and come up with pre-arranged lists that are currently in circulation. He displayed one of such doctored lists from his own local government area, where he said no voting and no election took place, only for a list to surface. Etiebet vowed to fight to ensure that the directive of the national headquarters of the party that internal democracy be maintained, with proper ward election, must be adhered to in the state. He said that the real reason why the current national chairman of the party is fondly called the game-changer was for his insistence on deepening internal democracy in the party. He condemned the attempt by governors to create hegemonies and dynasties and vowed that the attempt by Gov Akpabio to impose his wish on the state would fail. He stated that it was the imposition agenda of the governor that is heating up the polity, adding that if the right thing had been done, it would have been a smooth sail in the state. He confirmed that the right thing would have been to zone the governorship to Oro, which he said had the right being the third limb of the tripod. He noted that equity and justice mean that if you must pursue equity by zoning the governorship, then you must also pursue equity by ensuring that the Senate seat for Ikot Ekpene should be zoned to the Abak Federal Constituency, where it has never gone to. He stressed that whatever the NWC had said on zoning does not preclude or exclude of debar any candidate from contesting the primary, no matter which zone the person comes from. He said that he had such assurances and clarifications from the National Chairman of the party, Alhaji Adamu Muazu. He urged all the aspirants, irrespective of their senatorial zones to continue in their aspiration as the party had assured that the most accepted candidate would fly the flag of the party at the 2015 governorship election. Meanwhile, governorship aspirants on the Peoples Democratic Party’s platform have continued to challenge the credibility of Saturday’s ad-hoc delegates’ congress. The aspirants have already disclosed their intention to petition the National Chairman of the party, Alhaji Adamu Mua’zu, accusing the State Governor, Chief Godswill Akpabio of collaborating with the Chairman of the Akwa Ibom State Ward Congresses Committee, Senator Ibrahim Abdulazeez to manipulate the exercise. The aspirants, who expressed disaffection with the lack of transparency that characterized the ward congresses, alleged that the original copies of the result sheets were seized by Governor Akpabio, who connived with Senator Abdulazeez to compile the final result on Friday at the Government House, Uyo. According to them, the Governor was bent on manipulating the election processes and arm-twisting other aspirants to ensure the emergence of his ‘anointed candidate, the immediate past Secretary to the State Government, Udom Gabriel Emmanuel as governor in 2015.
Posted on: Wed, 05 Nov 2014 18:46:34 +0000