ABUJA – Sen. Helen Eseune (PDP-Akwa Ibom) on Monday promised not to retreat from Akwa Ibom gubernatorial race in spite a recent attack on her at Essiem Udim Local Government Area of the state by hoodlums.
The senator, who made this known while addressing newsmen in Abuja, said she was attacked when she visited the local government as part of consultations on her ambition.
She said the attack would not deter her, adding that she continued with her local government consultations barely 24 hours after the incidence.
She said she was qualified in all ramifications to run for governorship in the state and would not be intimidated by anybody.
“ I am not going to withdraw to my shell. I am not going to be intimidated to pull back. We are in a democratic setting and issues like this must be put in their proper place, the country belongs to all of us.
“The party is ours; there is freedom of movement; there is freedom of legal assembly and nobody should be allowed to threaten anybody.
“So, an issue like this must be seen for what it is a criminal activity by criminals and they should be treated as such.
“If activities like this are not properly addressed , there will be others like it because some people feel that they own Nigeria; they own everything and they can just do as they like; they are above the law,“ she said.
The lawmaker said there must be no sacred cows in the country and that those who did not abide by the law should be adequately punished.
Esuene, who said no arrest had been made as at the time she addressed newsmen, added that the incident had been reported to the Commissioner of Police in the state and the Inspector General of Police.
She said that Gov. Godswill Akpabio of Akwa Ibom called to sympathise with her after 28 hours and distanced himself from the attack.
“I told him what happened and he said maybe some people are trying to give him a bad name because this is his local government.
“These boys were not masked; they were known faces, so, it is left for the security operatives to find out what actually happened,’’ she said.
Sen. Esuene, the only 2015 female governorship aspirant in Awka Ibom, on Oct. 15, escaped attack by some hoodlums in Essien Udim area.
She served as Minister of State for Health, and Minister of Environment and Housing between 2005 and 2007 under former President Olusegun Obasanjo.(NAN)
