IKOT EKPENE SENATORIAL DISTRICT STAKEHOLDER’S FORUM COMMUNIQUE PUBLISHED IN THE SATURDAY SUN NEWSPAPER OF DECEMBER 26, 2015 RESPONSE BY CHIEF DON OBOT ETIEBET, CON

IKOT EKPENE SENATORIAL DISTRICT STAKEHOLDER'S FORUM COMMUNIQUE PUBLISHED IN THE SATURDAY SUN NEWSPAPER OF DECEMBER 26, 2015
RESPONSE BY CHIEF DON OBOT ETIEBET, CON

I am, as an IKOT EKPENE Senatorial District Stakeholder, provoked by the fallacy and deceitful content of a so-called communiqué issued by ten Senator Akpabio's loyalists who had gone to his home in Ukana to pay him Christmas eve homage. In fact, some in that list had called me to congratulate me on Umana Okon Umana's (APC) Victory at the Appeal Court which nullified the total gubernatorial election of April 11, 2015 in Akwa Ibom State.

The concoctions as contained in their resolutions are wild and fallacious for:

1. The good people of Akwa Ibom State DID NOT, repeat, DID NOT "unanimously and passionately trooped out in their numbers and overwhelmingly voted for the People Democratic Party giving the Party a score of 996,0716,071 as against 89,865 for the other parties (APC inclusive)", as they said.

That is the core fallacy of the Akwa Ibom State gubernatorial election of April 11, 2015 which made the APC candidate, Umana Okon Umana to petition the State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal that 437,128 accredited voters could not have produced 996,071 votes for the PDP Candidate, Mr. Udom Gabriel Emmanuel. The Tribunal in its judgement held that voters in 18 Local Government Areas (LGAs) out of 31 LGAs in the State credited with 566,436 votes were disenfranchised during the governorship poll. The Appeal Court stressed that "the number of votes recorded at the end of the election exceeded the total number of accredited voters by as much as 685,708 votes", maintaining that "the case of over-voting was manifestly established." The Appeal Court equally wondered why the Tribunal did not cancel the whole election having invalidated elections in 18 out of 31 LGAs leaving PDP with only 13 LGAs, which do not form the mandatory 25% wins in 2/3 of 31 LGAs according to Section 179(2) of the Constitution.

With other convincing and undisputed evidences of no voting, no collation, no counting and no announcements of results throughout the State during the election of April 11, 2015 according to the dictates of the Electoral Act, INEC Guidelines and Regulations, the Appeal Court held that "the Tribunal having heard the evidence of PW-33 (my humble self) whom the TRIBUNAL described as "a witness of truth" and shown video evidence, ought to have held that there was no collation, but that votes were merely allocated not just at the Ward and Local Government Levels, but also at the State level." It went on to say that "the non-compliance cuts across the entire LGAs in Akwa Ibom" declaring therefore that "the 1st Respondent, Governor Emmanuel was not duly elected by majority of lawfully cast votes."

2. The so-called stakeholders also contended that "the Mandate was freely given to Governor Udom Emmanuel to exercise that office along with Mr. Moses Ekpo, MFR, as his deputy in a free and fair election on April 11, 2015." This is arrant fallacy and nonsense. In the first place there was no election, not to talk of being free and fair, because the voters were not allowed to vote that day. The pogrom visited on those who tried to vote or conduct the election was evidenced all over the place and was proven at both the Tribunal and at the Appeal Court, which made the Tribunal to declare that voters in 18 out of 31 LGAs were disenfranchised and the Appeal Court decried what was an "unprecedented level of violence and thuggery" during the Akwa Ibom poll, adding "may this country never again experience such descent to anarchy" and charging the State INEC which aided and abated the sham "to remain on the side of the truth and never be complicit in any subversion of due process".

3. The Statement in Paragraph 2 of the Communiqué that "the Mandate was given to Mr. Udom Emmanuel from Eket Senatorial District based on the need for equity, fairness, justice and fair play and on the principle of rotation of power and zoning (a political reflection of the Federal Character principle enshrined in our Constitution)" and the adjourning reasonings of paragraphs 3, 4 & 5 are deceitful and callous, shrewdly crafted to cover up the imposition of Mr. Udom Emmanuel on Akwa Ibom State by former Governor Godswill Obot Akpabio, and to hoodwink the uninformed of the politics of Akwa Ibom State.

The facts are that the action of the Governor to impose Mr. Udom Emmanuel was contrary to a Unity Agreement and Arrangement entered into by the PDP Leaders from the three main ethnic groups of Ibibio, Annang and Oron from the three Senatorial Districts of Uyo, Ikot Ekpene and Eket respectively in my house in Ewet Housing Estate, Uyo in 1998 for peaceful co-existence, justice, equity and fair play in politics amongst the different ethnic groups in the State. That agreement to rotate the governorship candidacy in Akwa Ibom State amongst the three dominant Ethnic Groups of Ibibio, Annang and Oron from the three Senatorial Districts of Uyo, Ikot Ekpene and Eket respectively constituted the application and interpretation of the Federal Character principle as enshrined in our Constitution and consolidated PDP grip on Akwa Ibom State all these past 16 years, making the State to be known and labeled "A PDP STATE" anytime before now. That agreement produced Obong Victor Attah, an Ibibioman from Uyo Senatorial District as the Consensus Candidate of PDP in 1998 in the first instance with promises of rotation to Annang and Oron subsequently.

4. 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 Ibibioman from Uyo Senatorial District and Barr. Godswill Akpabio, an Annangman from Ikot Ekpene Senatorial District had ruled for eight years each from 1999 to 2015, and not another Ibibioman,Mr. Udom Emmanuel, even if he is from Eket Senatorial District. So they were deceitful in contending that picking Mr. Udom Emmanuel was done in the interest of zoning and rotation. It is this impunity of power by Governor Godswill Akpabio to impose Mr. Udom Emmanuel, an Ibibio from Eket Senatorial District, in total disregard to the tribal sensibilities in the State, denying the Oron nation their turn, to produce the governor and throwing away the Unity Agreement that is what is causing all the political problems in the State.

5. So when former Governor Godswill Akpabio insisted that it must be Mr. Udom Emmanuel, saying those who did not agree with him "would die", the PDP Leaders in the State, including HE Obong Victor Attah , former Governor of the State and Permanent Member PDP Board of Trustees, Chief Edet Nkpubre, former National Vice Chairman, South-South of PDP and my humbleself, Chief Don Obot Etiebet, CON, former Permanent Member of PDP Board of Trustees, together with the 22 PDP gubernatorial aspirants out of 23, most of them from ORON nation, who Governor Akpabio had rigged out of the PDP primaries for Mr. Udom Emmanuel, and having exhausted all entreaties with the National Leadership of PDP in Abuja without respite, abandoned PDP and moved to adopt Obong Umana Okon Umana of APC as the consensus gubernatorial Candidate of Akwa Ibom State. By this time, Umana Okon Umana had calmed down the ire of the Oron nation by promising them to produce his successor and had chosen an Oron man as his Deputy. This agreement made the Oron nation to fully endorse Umana Okon Umana. The stage was now set for a landslide victory for Umana Okon Umana of APC. This move and scenario rattled Governor Akpabio as PDP became a shell of itself in the State going into the elections.

6. With our departure from PDP with our supporters, PDP was dead in the State. Governor Godswill Akpabio embarked upon the "Carry Go" tactics in all the elections where the voters were disenfranchised, prevented by deadly violence, pogrom, from going out to vote. He only acted as man and not God. The Tribunal saw this in 18 out of 31 LGAs and cancelled the results there. The Appeal Court saw through all this in all the 31 LGAs and declared "the 1st Respondent Governor Udom Emmanuel was not duly elected by majority of lawfully cast votes. The entire governorship election is hereby nullified".

7. Knowing that a fresh gubernatorial election has been ordered by the Appeal Court, knowing that PDP is a shadow of itself and hallow with no support of the people anymore, Senator Godswill Akpabio, Udom's Master and Teacher and his gang are panicky. Knowing that they can't win a free and fair election in Akwa Ibom State, they have resorted to threatening and blackmailing the Federal Government, President Muhammadu Buhari and the APC Leadership. They should stop trying to blackmail or patronize the Supreme Court to give them judgement in order "to save the Federal Government money". What an argument! This amounts to perversion of justice. Why are they so nice to advise the Federal Government to save money by not conducting a court ordered fresh election in Akwa Ibom State? Because they know PDP cannot win a free and fair election in Akwa Ibom State, today, devoid of bribing the electoral officials and security agencies to rig the election for them with bloodbath as before.

8. I am certain to state that President Muhammadu Buhari, having suffered the pains and fate of rigged elections three times in his presidential bid, is seriously adverse to anything to do with the rigging of elections either in the field or in the courts. I can say he has a phobia against election rigging. You better stir clear!! 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 these persons but APC is very interested that the Party is not rigged out of these States or any State in Nigeria. APC wants free and fair elections to be held where there were none as may be determined by the courts. These persons should see what happened in Kogi and Bayelsa elections where elections were conducted freely and fairly under APC Federal Government and contenders scored votes of a few thousand more than each other and not "956,071 for PDP and 89,865 for others including APC" as was in Akwa Ibom State. I can assure them that APC has no intention to "circumvent due processes and use underhand tactics to ride roughshod over PDP in Akwa Ibom, Rivers, Bayelsa and Delta States" as they said. They are actually the ones who rode roughshod over Akwa Ibom people by imposing candidates on them against all their sensibilities in the State.

9. In the spirit of the Change Mantra, APC wants the rule of law to prevail in all circumstances and endeavours. The Government of President Muhammadu Buhari wants free and fair elections conducted under a level playing field where the electorates are free, unimpeded, not disenfranchised to cast their votes for candidates of their choice. I know this will be hard for PDP in Akwa Ibom State to live with but they should try to live with the fact that the era of impunity, violence, bribery of electoral officials and the security agencies to "Carry Go" electons for them is over. The prayer of all Akwa Ibom people is, please give us a level playing field to go out and vote a governor of our choice in the forthcoming fresh governorship election. For sure, with that they are afraid Umana Okon Umana of APC will carry the day convincingly.

Thank you.

Chief Don Obot Etiebet, CON, FNCS, FNMGS
Atuekong Annang
Obong Unwana Akwa Ibom
Member, Board of Trustees (BOT), All Progressives Congress (APC)
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