The Chairman of the People\u2019s Democratic Party (PDP) Governors Forum and<\/p>\n
governor of Akwa Ibom State,\u00a0 Chief\u00a0 Godswill Akpabio suffered massive<\/p>\n
defeat in his party\u2019s last Saturday\u2019s House of Assembly primaries.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
According to our investigation, the governor who on the eve of the<\/p>\n
primaries had held a closed door meeting with his aspirants of choice and<\/p>\n
was sure of grabbing 26 of the 31 tickets in the state suffered a huge<\/p>\n
shock as most of the candidates he supported were roundly defeated or<\/p>\n
out-played at the primaries.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Most painful to Akpabio is the fact that his close aides have been<\/p>\n
fingered to have been the architects of his defeat in some of the state<\/p>\n
constituencies. In Abak, where the present Commissioner of Information,<\/p>\n
Aniekan Umanah hails from,\u00a0 Akpabio is said to have anointed one Emmanuel<\/p>\n
Udosen, a lawyer, who is said to be married to his cousin as the next<\/p>\n
member of the state house of assembly.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Aniekan Umanah was given the task of telling the incumbent, Mr. Friday<\/p>\n
Iwok, to step down for Udosen. He was also mandated to pay each of the<\/p>\n
delegates the sum of three hundred thousand naira as transport and welfare<\/p>\n
allowance. But to the chagrin of the governor, Umanah, instead of sticking<\/p>\n
to plan, failed to deliver the message to Iwok and paid the delegates one<\/p>\n
hundred thousand naira only on behalf of Udosen and pocketed the rest.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Friday Iwok being a politician, who knows his onion, capitalized on the<\/p>\n
ineptness of Umanah and is said to have approached the delegates and paid<\/p>\n
them two hundred thousand naira each in exchange for their votes. At the<\/p>\n
end of the poll in Abak, Iwok was returned as the Party\u2019s flag bearer for<\/p>\n
the forth-coming general election. The governor is said to be highly<\/p>\n
disappointed in Aniekan Umanah who has been described by many as an<\/p>\n
opportunist and a self-centered political neophyte for truncating his<\/p>\n
plans to install his in-law as the representative of the Abak state<\/p>\n
constituency in the House of Assembly.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Unlike Abak, where the governor was not in support of the return bid of<\/p>\n
the member of the state constituency; Ayang Akanimo Ayang, the member<\/p>\n
representing Eket state constituency in the House of Assembly had the<\/p>\n
blessings of Governor Akpabio and was tipped to retain his seat in the<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
However, at the end of the primaries in Eket, the returning officer,<\/p>\n
Ekpong Edemumoh declared Mr. David Lawrence, a onetime vice chairman of<\/p>\n
the council as person who will represent the Party in the forth-coming<\/p>\n
house of assembly. According to a delegate who spoke on the condition of<\/p>\n
anonymity, the defeat of Ayang does not have anything to do with the<\/p>\n
governor; rather he is the architect of his own down fall. Ayang according<\/p>\n
to our source is one politician who failed to empower his people and<\/p>\n
abandoned everybody that was instrumental to getting into the House of<\/p>\n
Assembly in 2011.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
A prot\u00e9g\u00e9 of the senator representing Eket senatorial district, Senator<\/p>\n
Helen Esuene, Ayang failed to realize that there will be a payback time<\/p>\n
when he will need the support of the people. He concentrated on amassing<\/p>\n
wealth for himself and did not attract any tangible people-oriented<\/p>\n
project to the state constituency. These accounted for the massive<\/p>\n
resistance against his return to the House. Even when the Party\u2019s appeal<\/p>\n
committee ordered a rerun of the primary election in Eket state<\/p>\n
constituency, it was manifestly clear that Ayang who lost to David<\/p>\n
Lawrence by just a vote was in for a worst defeat as the elders of Eket,<\/p>\n
like one time minister of housing, Chief Nduese Essien, Senator Helen<\/p>\n
Esuene, General Anthony Etukudoh, Professor Etie Ben Akpan and others had<\/p>\n
mobilized delegates to cast overwhelming votes in support of David<\/p>\n
Lawrence. This accounted for his chickening out of the rerun, conceding<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
In Nsit Ibom state constituency, Akpabio\u2019s candidate of choice and former<\/p>\n
state chairman of the Trade Union Congress (TUC), Akamba Awah was defeated<\/p>\n
by the incumbent chairperson of the local government council, Mrs. Mfon<\/p>\n
Ekong who is said to be a political ward of former secretary to Akwa Ibom<\/p>\n
state government, Umana Okon Umana who only last Friday defected to the<\/p>\n
All Progressive Congress (APC) in a carnival like rally attended by the<\/p>\n
top hierarchy of the Party at the national level. Though a former military<\/p>\n
administrator of the state, a strong follower of Akpabio and director<\/p>\n
general of Udom\u2019s campaign organization, Wing Commander Idongesit Nkanga<\/p>\n
hails from Nsit Ibom and was strongly in support of Awah, he could not<\/p>\n
however save him from defeat.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The drama in Nsit Ubium state constituency did not come as a surprise to<\/p>\n
many political observers in the state. According to a source who was a<\/p>\n
statutory delegate at the primary election, the stakeholders were out to<\/p>\n
humiliate Akpabio and this they did using people who were closed to the<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Though the Party confirmed that there was no election in Nsit Ubium state<\/p>\n
constituency as there was wide spread violence purportedly orchestrated by<\/p>\n
political thugs and cultists hired by the chairman of the council,<\/p>\n
Ekpedeme Akpan, in support of one of the candidates, Onofiok Luke. The<\/p>\n
violence took place right under the noses of the police officers of the<\/p>\n
base where the election was conducted and other security agents.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
In fact, the election venue was highly militarized to intimidate the<\/p>\n
delegates of other contestants. A source who hails from Nsit Ubium claimed<\/p>\n
that some days before the primary election, which was a straight contest<\/p>\n
between Ekokoi Solomon, a lawyer and university lecturer and the incumbent<\/p>\n
member, Onofiok Luke, who was a prot\u00e9g\u00e9 of Akpabio until he fell out with<\/p>\n
the governor on account of what has been described by many as his variable<\/p>\n
nature;\u00a0 former senator Effiong Dickson Bob who is said to be interested<\/p>\n
in being a deputy governor, and is alleged to have been schemed out of the<\/p>\n
2011 senate race by Akpabio and his then SSG, Umana Okon Umana with the<\/p>\n
help of their foot soldiers like Bassey Albert and Luke,\u00a0 convened a<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
At the meeting were the chairman of the local government council, Akpan<\/p>\n
and Akpabio\u2019s aides who hail from the area like Iniobong Ekong, Barr.<\/p>\n
Essien Esema and Dr. Aniefiok Edem, a very senior Party chieftain in the<\/p>\n
state, and a onetime commissioner of finance and former governorship<\/p>\n
aspirant from Uyo senatorial district where it was decided that Akpabio<\/p>\n
must be humiliated at all cost.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The first being to return Onofiok Luke back to the House of Assembly,<\/p>\n
where he will emerge as the next speaker of the House; secondly, after the<\/p>\n
primary election, Udom should be stopped from emerging as the Party\u2019s<\/p>\n
standard bearer in Sunday\u2019s guber primary and ensure that Okpolupm Ette or<\/p>\n
Nsima Ekere emerges as the Party\u2019s governorship candidate in Sunday\u2019s PDP<\/p>\n
governorship primary.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
To achieve this, Bassey Albert was to provide the war chest needed to<\/p>\n
execute the project, the senior special assistant to the governor on<\/p>\n
security matters, Iniobong Ekong, was to recruit security agents to<\/p>\n
provide cover for the hired thugs and cultists that will be recruited from<\/p>\n
Akwa Ibom and neighbouring Cross River state. Indeed, the thugs had a<\/p>\n
field day pouncing on delegates who were known to be none supporters of<\/p>\n
Luke right under the watch of the security agents who did nothing.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
When the delegates ran for their lives, supporters of Luke were said to<\/p>\n
have taken over the entire process, casting multiple votes in his favour<\/p>\n
and forced the returning officer to declare him winner.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
According to a very reliable source, the delegate\u2019s list was replete with<\/p>\n
several repeated names of delegates, this further gives credence to the<\/p>\n
allusion that officers of the party also compromised the process to favour<\/p>\n
passed through Idoro road later in the day was pelted with stones, sachet<\/p>\n
water, bottles and every available missile by irate supporters of Luke.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The governor, who is said to have been livid with the report of the<\/p>\n
primary election, is believed to be in a dilemma as to what to do. Though<\/p>\n
the party appeal committee declared that there was no election in Nsit<\/p>\n
Ubium state constituency and called for a rerun on Monday, it was later<\/p>\n
put on hold on the alleged directive of Akpabio who is believed to have<\/p>\n
been blackmailed by the former senator to declare Luke winner in return of<\/p>\n
support for his guber aspirant.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Akpabio unwittingly is believed to have fallen for the trap set out for<\/p>\n
him and is likely taste the bitter sauce he once served the former senator<\/p>\n
in 2011.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Chairman of the People\u2019s Democratic Party (PDP) Governors Forum and governor of Akwa Ibom State,\u00a0 Chief\u00a0 Godswill Akpabio suffered massive defeat in his party\u2019s last Saturday\u2019s House of Assembly…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":32454,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-33936","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-exclusive"],"yoast_head":"\n