UYO (Sundiata Post) – As the people of Akwa Ibom State await the Supreme Court judgement on the last governorship election, Don Etiebet, former Board of Trustee (BOT) member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has faulted the zoning arrangement adopted during the last general elections by the party in the state.
Etiebet, who has since defected to the All Progressives Congress (APC) and is now a BOT member of the party, said the zoning of the governorship office based on senatorial districts was responsible for the political crisis in Akwa Ibom State.
Reacting to the communiqué adopted by stakeholders of the PDP from Ikot Ekpene Senatorial District where he comes from, the former minister of petroleum resources said the agreement adopted by elders of the PDP in 1998 in the state was that the governorship position should rotate among the three major ethnic groups in the state.
According to him, since Obong Victor Attah who is from the Ibibio stock had been the governor between 1999 and 2007 followed by Godswill Akpabio , an Annang from Ikot Ekpene senatorial district, his successor should have been of Oron ethnic nationality. He said that by bringing another Ibibio man in the person of Udom Emmanuel by the PDP, the state has been thrown into ethnic disharmony.[pro_ad_display_adzone id=”70560″]
“The point on the table today is that Oron man from Eket Senatorial District should have been the PDP governorship candidate in 2015 since Obong Victor Attah, an Ibibio man from Uyo Senatorial District and Godswill Akpabio, an Annang man from Ikot Ekpene Senatorial District had ruled for eight years each from 1999 to 2015, and not another Ibibio man, Udom Emmanuel, even if he is from Eket Senatorial District,’’ Etiebet said.
While maintaining that the “APC is not interested in taking over any “oil rich state of Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa, Delta or Rivers States by force” as stated by some persons but APC is very interested that the party is not rigged out of these states or any state in Nigeria . APC is interested in free and fair elections to be held where there were none as may be determined by the courts.”
He also rejected claims that the governorship election was free and fair, saying that the people did not “unanimously and passionately troop out in their numbers and overwhelmingly vote for the People Democratic Party giving the Party a score of 956,071 as against 89,865 for the other parties (APC inclusive)”, as they said.
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