Mr. Umana Okon Umana, immediate past Secretary to Akwa Ibom State
Government, has re-assured his teeming supporters throughout the state and
beyond that he is still in the governorship race.
Noting that the contest for the office of governor of the state is open to
all eligible aspirants irrespective of his senatorial district, Umana
called on politicians in the state who are willing and ready to feel free
and enter the race.
A communiqué issued by the state chapter of the PDP after its executive
committee meeting on Tuesday had sought to create confusion in the minds
of the people of the state by stating that the party has “zoned the
governorship position to Eket Senatorial District,” while at the same time
concluding that its position on zoning “is without prejudice to the right
of any other person from other senatorial districts to contest for the
governorship seat in 2015.
”Umana, a leading governorship contender in the 2015 race, noted that the
contradiction and double speak in the position of the SEC of the party
reaffirm that there is no zoning in the choice of candidates for election
in the party, a position, he noted, that is also confirmed by the policy
statement of the National Chairman of the party.
He said the vote for open contest is consistent with the history of
electoral contest in the state, which shows that the office of governor is
always keenly contested by aspirants from the three senatorial districts,
after which all other positions are shared among the 10 federal
constituencies that make up Akwa Ibom State. He accordingly urged his
supporters to remain calm and trust in God’s perfect will over the
election.
Umana noted Governor Godswill Akpabio’s argument that the governorship
position has been zoned to Eket Senatorial District in the interest of
justice because the district has never produced a governor, and observed
that many commentators have already said that the governor cannot be
correct, because in the larger territory of the old Cross River State,
Eket Senatorial District had produced Governor U.J.Esuene, who ruled for
nine years and Dr. Clement Isong, who ruled for four years, making it a
total of 13 years for the district.
Umana also noted that the most favoured of the aspirants being paraded for
the 2015 election comes from the same Eket federal constituency as the two
former governors. Other observers have noted, too, that the current
managing director/chief executive of the Niger Delta Development
Commission is also from Eket federal constituency, wondering what justice
is all about, given the argument of the promoters of zoning that they are
fighting for justice.
The former SSG observed that if the entire manoeuvring over the 2015
election was about zoning, rather than an imposition of a particular
candidate, then a level playing field would have been created for even
other aspirants from the same federal constituency as the preferred
candidate for the election. He noted that other aspirants from Eket and
other parts of the state have the same right as the preferred candidate,
who should not be made to enjoy any advantage over others in the name of
zoning.
Umana explained that the motive of the promoters of zoning is to give
undue advantage to a particular aspirant from one federal constituency at
the expense of all other aspirants from the remaining nine constituencies.
According to the former SSG, based on the electoral history of Akwa Ibom
State, there is no alternative to open contest that is also free and
transparent. He re-emphasised that he is still in the race, adding that
power belongs to God who gives it to whoever He pleases.