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Tag: Akwa Ibom

  • PDP chairman, 14 others defect to APC in Akwa Ibom

    PDP chairman, 14 others defect to APC in Akwa Ibom

    The rank and file of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP)  top political  heavyweights in Akwa Ibom State was decimated at the weekend. Fifteen of the heavyweights led by the former Chairman, Mr Ita Toyo, who was also the Chairman of thePDP Chairmen, decamped from the Party and embraced the All Progressive Congress ( APC). The occasion was the prayer summit and reception organised by the APC and the supporters of Umana Okon Umana, the APC governorship candidate in the April 11,2015 general elections.

    The defectors include: Senator Aloysius Etuk, Hon. Eseme Eyibo ( former PDP House of Representatives member), Chief Ita Toyo former PDP State Chairman and former Chairman of of PDP Chairmen, Hon. Ita Udosen, Hon Okon Osung, Hon Mike Etim, Dr. Friday Etuk, former Chairmen of Okobo, Itu, Uyo, Ibesikpo/Asutan, Eket, Okobo Local government areas and others.

    The party members and supporters of the Obong Umana estimated at over a hundred thousand people, from 31 local government areas trooped out to give a resounding welcome to a man they referred to as ‘Governor’ and ‘symbol of freedom’.

    The prayer meeting was held by the party to give back to God all the glory for His manifold blessings upon the Nation, the State, the Party, victory won so far by APC in the State and generally for God’s benevolence on the Akwa Ibom people.

    The only Bible reading for the prayer summit, taken from the Book of Psalm chapter  62 verses 1 to 12, was taken by Obong Umana while the opening and closing hymns were: ‘Oh God our help in ages past and Through the love of God our Saviour’.

    At a short exhortation, Pastor  Daniel K. Ebong, noted that God had already completed what He had started by ensuring the governorship election of April 16, 2015 was completely cancelled. He likened Umana’s case to that of the Biblical Moses who was divinely guided until he was finally used by God to accomplish the task of delivering the people of Israel from the powers of Egypt. He said the battle for the deliverance of Akwa Ibom has been fought and that God was about completing His work of deliverance using Obong Umana as He did for Israel using Moses.

    Prayer sessions were  held led by eminent servants of God.

    Umana, who started his speech with a song of praise, said God has given the Akwa Ibom people victory at the election tribunal and the Appeal Court. He also called for prayers for victory at the Supreme Court and called on the people to prepare to vote APC at the incoming governorship re-run to produce a governor of their choice and no longer an imposition.

    “The victories at both the Tribunal and the Court of Appeal, respectively on October 21, 2015 and December 18, 2015, were not just for me as a person. They were victories for the people of Akwa Ibom State.

    ‘As a people and a state you have proven to be unconquerable; you have shown that no weapon or amount of money can break you spirit or bend your resolve. May God bless you all.

    “My special appreciation goes to the President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, His Excellency, President Muhammadu Buhari, for his able leadership that is stabilising the polity, and to the Judiciary for upholding the truth and confirming the verdict of international election monitors, including the US Government, the European Union and the African Union, all of who held unanimously in their reports last year that there were no elections in Akwa Ibom State.

    “I pay tribute to our great Party, the All Progressives Congress (APC), under the able leadership of His Excellency John Odigie-Oyegun, which has stood firm and unbowed through all the challenges of our political odyssey. I equally salute the courage of our numerous members who have braved all the odds and faced the bullets because they prefer freedom to slavery”, he said.

    Umana said the battle is between freedom and slavery, adding that  the  people have chosen freedom and we  walked away from slavery and rejected enslavement to godfatherism. He thanked the people for insisting on freedom to decide who their governor should be.

    The APC National Vice Chairman for Southsouth, Prince Hilliard Ettah, who received the new members on behalf of the National  Chairman, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun,  presented broom, the party’s symbol to them. He urged them to make use of the platform before them to bring about the change much needed in Akwa Ibom State.

    Senator Aloysius Etuk thanked the leadership of APC for making the platform available for the emancipation of the people.

    Chief Ita Toyo  said by their mass movement, the PDP in Akwa Ibom is now history, while APC has now become the official state party.

    Hon. Eseme Eyibo said ,”never again will the Akwa Ibom people allow their destiny to be taken for granted”.

    One of the G22 governorship aspirants, who were schemed out by the PDP, Barr. Asuquo Asuquo noted that since the State did not allow former governor Victor Attah to impose a successor on the people, Senator Akpabio will not be allowed to do same. He said Governor Udom will leave government house for the governor the people will chose for themselves in the governorship re-run.

    Senator Ita Enang, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on National Assembly Matters, said the year of jubilee has come for the people and their deliverance is assured.

  • Akwa Ibom PDP chair, 14 others defect to APC

    Akwa Ibom PDP chair, 14 others defect to APC

    No fewer than 15 leaders of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Akwa Ibom State defeceted to the All Progressives Congress (APC) at the weekend.

    The defectors were led by its former Chairman, Ita Toyo.

    Their defection was held at a prayer summit and reception organised by the party and supporters of APC governorship candidate in the April 11, 2015 election, Umana Okon Umana.

    Other defectors are: Senator Aloysius Etuk, Eseme Eyibo (former PDP House of Representatives member), Ita Udosen, Okon Osung, Mike Etim, Dr. Friday Etuk, who were local government chairmen.

    Scores of APC members and Umana’s supporters from the 31 local government areas witnessed the defection.

    They described Umana as their “governor” and “symbol of freedom”.

    The prayer meeting was meant to praise God for His blessings upon the nation, the state, APC’s expansion in the state and God’s mercies on the residents.

    The only Bible reading for the prayer was taken from Psalm 62: 1 to 12. It was read by Obong Umana; the opening and closing hymns were: Oh God, Our Help in Ages Past and Through the Love of God, Our Saviour.

    A frontline cleric, Pastor Daniel K. Ebong, noted that God had completed what He started by ensuring that the governorship election of April 16, last year, was cancelled.

    The cleric likened Umana’s case to that of the Biblical Moses, who was divinely guided until he delivered the Israelites from Egypt.

    He said the battle to deliver Akwa Ibom had been fought, adding that God was about to deliver the state by using Umana as He did for Israel using Moses.

    Umana, who started his speech with a song of praise, said God had given Akwa Ibom residents victory by granting his efforts with series of victories from the election tribunal and the Appeal Court.

    The APC candidate called for prayers to enable the party triumph at the Supreme Court.

    He urged the people to vote for APC in the rerun so that the party would produce a governor of their choice and not through an imposition.

    He said: “The victories at the tribunal and the Court of Appeal – on October 21, 2015 and December 18, 2015, were not just for me. They were victories for the people of Akwa Ibom State.

    “As a people and a state, you have proven to be unconquerable; you have shown that no weapon or amount of money can break your spirit or bend your resolve. May God bless you all.

    “My special appreciation goes to the President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, His Excellency, President Muhammadu Buhari, for his able leadership that is stabilising the polity. Also the Judiciary, for upholding the truth and confirming the verdict of international election monitors, including the U.S Government, the European Union (EU) and the African Union (AU), all of who held unanimously in their reports last year that there were no elections in Akwa Ibom State…”

  • Akwa Ibom: Beyond propaganda

    One of the areas in which the All Progressives Congress (APC) had an edge over the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the 2015 general elections was effective use of propaganda. The tool proved useful, helped especially by the state of despondency and hopelessness in the country, which brought about the loss of faith in the then ruling party.

    Now, having won the election, and even with the government firmly in its control, the party has not seen the need to change or abandon the culture of propaganda. We see it in the Ministry of Information and Culture as it sings different tunes at different times, depending on what the issues are.

    When the power situation improved generally all over the country in June and July last year, at a time President Muhammadu Buhari had yet to form his cabinet, the then All Progressives Congress attributed it to the body language of the president. But Nigerians knew it was the result of the efforts of the former President Goodluck Jonathan administration.

    The APC is tactfully silent on the cause of the current worsening power situation. Instead, it prefers to blame the former President Jonathan for the apparently intractable fuel crisis, seven months after the later left office.

    That was after the government and its relevant agencies had run out of ideas to tell Nigerians on the true cause of the crisis that took the shine off the Yuletide celebrations. The frustration brought on lives and livelihoods of the masses by the fuel scarcity were never seen in the history of the country. Businesses where shut down, bringing untold hardship to the people.

    The Ministry of Information and Culture also failed to draw a distinction between insurgency and terrorism in the north-eastern part of the country, to explain away the failure of the military to meet the December 31 deadline the president gave them.

    It appears the APC in Akwa Ibom State has taken a cue from its national body in the use of propaganda. The party has applied the tool at every step of the way, from the electioneering period through the elections up to now.

    Before the election, it tried unsuccessfully to sell the dummy of Akwa Ibom State Governor, Udom Emmanuel tenure being a third term for Godswill Akpabio, the former governor.

    But the people of the state saw the former secretary to the government as the most capable to continue from where Akpabio stopped, and they expressed it through the ballot on April 11, 2015 elections.

    The party got otherwise respectable former political leaders in the state who fell out of favour with Akpabio to stay away from the elections, with video recordings of supposed empty polling stations and scenes of the pockets of violence that took place in a few areas, as alibi in its appeal for cancellation of the state governorship election.

    Now, with the Supreme Court yet to rule on the appeal that Governor Emmanuel has lodged in respect of the appellate court ruling that granted its prayers for total cancellation of the April 11 election, the APC has resorted again to the use of propaganda, insisting that the cancellation of the election is a fait accompli. But this is one propaganda stunt that will not achieve its purpose.

    More than before, the people of Akwa Ibom have become aware of the antics of the APC in the state to destroy what it cannot get. The party knows it cannot win an election in the state, no matter how many times it is conducted. Its recourse to the courts is simply an effort to frustrate the smooth running of a PDP government, in the vain hope that another election would afford it opportunity to perfect employment of the so-called federal might to win.

    The groundswell of support for the governor, which is building in the wake of the ruling of the appeal court, is evidence of a people that is united to ensure there is a limit to the use of propaganda in the affairs of man.

    Pledges of supports that are coming from all segments of the population for Udom’s continuation in office is hinged on what has become apparent, namely, the likelihood of a fresh election. The reason for this is not farfetched. In the short period that he has been in office, the governor has given a lie to the earlier branding of his government as a continuation of the administration of his predecessor.

    His retention of some key members of the Akpabio administration was for the purpose of guaranteeing a smooth and seamless transition, especially against the background of the need to build on the legacies of the previous administration.

    It is the reason he is building on the foundation laid by Akpabio in key projects that would herald the new era of industrialisation that he envisions for the state. Two important examples are the Ibom Deep Seaport, for which he has set up an implementation committee with a December 31, 2016 deadline for takeoff, and Ibom Power Plant, for which he has obtained a licence from the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission for increase in generation capacity from its current 190 megawatts to 685 megawatts.

    Also, the youth empowerment programme of the Udom administration targets training of 1,000 Akwa Ibom youths for Oracle certification in information communication technology.

    This figure will add to the pool of about 350,000 Oracle certificated professionals around the world who are in high demand in oil and gas, banking, manufacturing, security, agro-allied companies, construction, among others.

    Besides, 100 youths have been sent to Israel for agricultural training, to prepare them for roles in the implementation of the state’s agricultural programme that targets micro, medium and small scale enterprises in such areas as sea food, soap and detergent production, edible oil production, fruit juice bottling.

    The people of the state have also seen from the programmes and polices he has so far put in place, with three private refineries and a fertilizer plant in the pipeline, that he means business in his pledge to leapfrog the state into an industrial hub in the Gulf of Guinea.

    This is in addition to the various youth development programmes of the administration. Another governorship election would provide the people an opportunity to choose between propaganda and reality that is already visible to the eye.

    • Ojukwu is a public sector analyst, based in Abuja.

  • Akwa Ibom’s senior citizens and the rest of us

    Coming up with a title for this article was somewhat difficult, but the essence of it was never rocket science, especially with the festive season.

    On Friday, 18 December 2015, Justice Oludotun Adeola Adefope-Okojie, who read the lead judgment on behalf of the five-man panel that sat on the appeal against the pronouncement of the Election Petition Tribunal for Akwa Ibom State, noted that having established substantial non-compliance with the Electoral Act in the conduct of the election, the lower tribunal ought to have nullified the entire election held in the state.

    On this premise, the Court of Appeal nullified the April 11, 2015 governorship election and ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission to conduct fresh election within 90 days.

    The tribunal’s verdict again called to question the integrity of the judiciary. But what is more curious and laughable is the court’s non-reliance on evidence before it but rather heavily on testimonies by some supposed senior “aggrieved” citizens of the state, which included an ex-governor, who is a former member of the PDP but now in the APC.

    The question to ask is who are the ‘senior citizens’? How many are they to thwart the political will of millions in Akwa Ibom people? Obviously, this is a clear case of the minority getting rated as the majority. If not, why did the Court of Appeal not put into consideration one of the positions of the pronouncement of the tribunal which held that the expert evidence the APC and its candidate, Umana, presented before it failed because the witnesses denied being experts, even after a  particular witness PW49 could not tell how he came about his findings.

    One should expectedly scream blue murder as INEC, while tendering documents before the court, never for once made available, safe to say neglected to tender, incident forms to validate manual accreditation where card readers failed; an excuse for the court to cite “over voting”.

    While the three-member tribunal chaired by Justice Muhammad Sirajo, which upheld the submission of Governor Akinwunmi Ambode to the petition of the PDP candidate, Mr. Jimi Agbaje, in Lagos State affirmed that “so if for instance, the election is nullified, the people of Lagos State would be left in an anarchic situation as no order can validly be made for the conduct of fresh elections, same having been sought for,” the big question is will the good people of Akwa Ibom not be in an anarchic situation with the attempted nullification of the election by the Court of Appeal?

    The tribunal which sat over the election petition stated that it formulated two issues for determination, the first of which was whether Mr. Emmanuel had scored the majority of valid votes in the election. It resolved that while it was not satisfied that elections were held in all the polling units in the state, it was satisfied that the election in some areas substantially complied with the law and that Mr. Emmanuel Udom of the PDP had gotten the majority of valid votes in the said areas.

    The tribunal also held that elections were inconclusive in some local government areas, including Uyo and Ibesikpo Asutan, while the elections in such areas such as Etim Ekpo, Uruan, Nsit Ibom, Nsit Atai, and Ini among others failed to comply with provisions of the Electoral Act.

    Most times, the verdict of a higher court is always complimentary to the verdict of a lower court, but with its verdict, the Court of Appeal just said there were no valid votes in Akwa Ibom…an interesting twist one must say!

    Invariably also, the Appeal Court just said all those who trooped out to determine their future and destinies for at least the next four years are inconsequential to some supposed senior citizens and their personal interests.

    The justices of the Court of Appeal only became Santa Claus who gave APC and its candidates an early Christmas gift. I do hope the Supreme Court is able to decide the case on merit and at least give the PDP a New Year gift of its earned mandate.

    One thing that is interests Akwa Ibomites is that in the last seven months or thereabout, Governor Emmanuel Udom has truly transformed the state. His feats and achievements have earned him accolades across the country.

    The groundbreaking ceremonies that the Udom administration has performed for an automobile plant in Itu, for the manufacture of luxury buses and armoured security vehicles; a led factory at Itam; Shoprite stores in Uyo and a broadcast facility of DAAR Communications at Abak are testimonies of the administration’s eventful outings.

    These projects show that the governor is committed to the development and growth of the state’s economy as well as its people.

    The fact remains that Udom’s credentials show he is the best choice to build on the legacy of performance that former Governor Godswill Akpabio bequeathed on the state, having understudied the latter in a strategic capacity for almost two years.

    He has brought smile to the faces of everyone in the state. In every part of the state, the impact of government and dividends of good governance is felt.

    Through his style of leadership and sincerity of purpose with which he had taken responsibilities, he has lived up to the true meaning of his name “Emmanuel”, which is “God with us”.

    It is also interesting that the people of Akwa Ibom voted overwhelmingly for Governor Emmanuel Udom as their governor, but are willing and ready to repeat the trend if and when the need arises.

    • Okosisi is a civil servant based in Enugu
  • Photo: Gov, wife at Akwa Ibom Xmas Carol

    Photo: Gov, wife at Akwa Ibom Xmas Carol

    Governor of Akwa Ibom State, Mr. Udom Emmanuel (left) with his wife, Deaconess Martha Udom, at the Akwa Ibom Christmas Carol Festival in Uyo sponsored by Globacom.
    Governor of Akwa Ibom State, Mr. Udom Emmanuel (left) with his wife, Deaconess Martha Udom, at the Akwa Ibom Christmas Carol Festival in Uyo sponsored by Globacom.

  • Akwa Ibom assembly elects new speaker

    The Akwa Ibom House of Assembly on Monday elected Mr Onofiok Luke as its new Speaker.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Luke, who represents Nsit Ubium constituency emerged as Speaker following the nullification of the election of the former Speaker, Aniekan Uko.

    The Appeal Court Tribunal sitting in Abuja had last week nullified the election of the former speaker.

    Luke was nominated by Nse Essien, member representing Onna and seconded by Mark Esset, member representing Nsit Atai.

    The Clerk of the House, Mrs Mandu Umoren, administered the oath of office on the new speaker.

    In his acceptance speech, Luke promised to work with the executive to bring development to the state and ensure that the dividends of democracy reached the grassroots.

    The new speaker said he would operate an open door policy and continue from where the former speaker stopped as the House adjourned sittings to Tuesday, Dec. 22

  • Eta: Judiciary on trial over Akwa Ibom polls

    Eta: Judiciary on trial over Akwa Ibom polls

    The National Vice-Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Southsouth, Prince Hilliard Eta, has said the report by Sahara Reporters on judicial decisions on the Akwa Ibom elections has vindicated his stand that judges that handled the cases were compromised.

    Eta stressed that he was referring to decided cases from the Akwa Ibom polls, and not the pending appeal on the governorship election.

    He explained that the judicial decisions on the election cases in were curious in the light of the fact that the European Union, the American government, the African Union and local election monitors agreed that there were no elections in both Akwa Ibom and Rivers states, only for the courts to cancel all the disputed elections but one in Rivers while upholding all the election cases in Akwa Ibom. “I am of the strong opinion that what accounts for the differential judicial outcome on the Siamese election fraud cases in Rivers and Akwa Ibom is corruption,” the APC South-South national vice-chairman said.

    Lamenting that the judiciary has reduced Nigeria to a laughing stock before the international community, Eta drew attention to specific cases”. He added: “In Akwa Ibom North West Senatorial District (Ikot Ekpene Senatorial District), where both the election tribunal and the Court of Appeal upheld the election of the Senate Minority Leader, Chief Godswill Akpabio, the number of votes cast in the election, which stood at 450,000, according to INEC records, far exceeded the number of registered voters in the district, which stood at 205,000 voters. Yet the courts overlooked this clear case of over voting, contrary to section 53 of the Electoral Act 2010, as amended. In the case of the governorship election petition, the tribunal also refused to take into account the case of over voting where 1,222,836 votes were recorded by Akwa Ibom State INEC as against INEC headquarters Card Reader data that show that only 437,128 voters were accredited to cast ballot in the governorship election.

    “The courts equally overlooked the critical fact that Senator Akpabio was not presented by his party for election in Akwa Ibom North West Senatorial District, where he was declared elected, only to  rationalise that the nomination of Akpabio for election in a different senatorial district other than where he was declared winner was a minor error outweighed by the curious view of the courts that the voters knew whom they voted for even if he was not validly nominated for the election.”

    Eta compared the case of Akpabio v. Okori of the APC to the decision of the governorship tribunal in Taraba State, where it was decided that the PDP candidate for the election, who is now the state governor, could not be returned elected because he was not validly nominated by his party due to a similar irregularity in his nomination process. Votes for the PDP candidate in the election were regarded as wasted votes because he was not validly noted. Why was the law applied differently in the case of Akwa Ibom North Senatorial District? Eta asked.

    He called on the judiciary to uphold the rule of law and save the nation’s democracy from fatal judicial abuse. He also called on the federal government to institute a full scale probe into the corruption of election petition judges in Akwa Ibom State, given detailed information on specific cases from open sources.

  • Judgment reserved in Akwa Ibom governorship appeal

    Judgment reserved in Akwa Ibom governorship appeal

    The Court of Appeal, Abuja, has reserved ruling in five appeals arising from the judgment of the Akwa Ibom State Governorship Election Petitions Tribunal, which sat in Abuja.

    A five-man panel of the Appellate Court, led by Justice Uwani M. Abba–Aji, announced the reservation of the judgments after parties adopted their briefs of argument.

    The Appellate Court said it would communicate to the parties when its decisions on the appeal were ready.

    All Progressives Congress (APC) and its candidate in the April 11 governorship election, Umana Umana, were represented by Wole Olanipekun (SAN).

    Akwa Ibom State Governor Udom Emmanuel was represented by Damian Dodo (SAN) and his party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), was represented by Tayo Oyetibo (SAN).

    Onyeachi Ipaezu (SAN) represented the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and the State Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC).

    Olanipekun (SAN), who adopted his clients’ brief of argument, dated and filed on November 14, prayed the court to dismiss the appellant’s suit for lacking in merit.

    Adopting his client’s brief of argument, Dodo urged the court to set aside part of the judgment of the tribunal, which nullified election in 18 of the 31 local government areas.

    He urged the court to allow the appeal as meritorious and affirm Emmanuel as the duly elected governor.

    In the second appeal, INEC prayed the Appellate Court to set aside the decision of the tribunal, which nullified election results in 18 local government areas.

    In a brief of argument, dated and filed on November 13, Ipaezu urged the court to grant the reliefs sought by INEC against Umana Umana and the APC.

    In the third appeal filed by the PDP, Umana Umana, Emmanuel, INEC, the REC and police were respondents.

    Oyetibo adopted his appellant’s brief of argument, dated and filed on November 13.

    The lawyer prayed the court to oppose the appeal.

    He urged the court to dismiss the respondents’ preliminary objection, allow the appeal and set aside part of the judgment of the lower tribunal, which nullified election in 18 local government areas.

    Adopting his first and second respondents’ reply briefs, dated and filed on November 20, Olanipekun prayed the court to dismiss the appeal and affirm the portion of the judgment of the lower tribunal being appealed against.

    The fourth appeal, filed by Umana Umana and the APC, has Emmanuel, the PDP, INEC, the REC and police as respondents.

    Olanipekun adopted the appellants’ brief of argument and prayed the court to discountenance the arguments contained in the first to the fourth respondents’ reply brief.

    The lawyer urged the court to0 allow the appeal and set aside the portion of the judgment of the lower tribunal, which okayed the April 11 governorship election in 13 local government areas.

    All the respondents urged the court to dismiss the appeal.

    The fifth appeal was an interlocutory appeal by Emmanuel. It has Umana Umana, APC, PDP, INEC, the REC and the police as defendants.

    Olanipekun prayed the court to uphold the first and second respondents’ objection and dismiss the appeal.

     

     

  • Akwa Ibom: Road to economic turnaround

    Akwa Ibom: Road to economic turnaround

    The morning they say, shows the day. For the Governor of Akwa Ibom State, Udom Emmanuel, the six months he has been in office, is enough for him to x-ray the problems confronting the state and find lasting solutions for them. Expectedly, he has left no one in doubt about his deep appreciation of the problems that confront the state, and the solutions that must be brought to bear in getting it out of the economic doldrums in which it has been.

    After the infrastructure renaissance that was achieved in the last eight years, the state urgently needed to break with the tendencies that left it economically incapacitated for decades. The person to carry out this task was certainly not one with public sector perception of governance. Udom’s appointment as secretary to the government was therefore to give him an inside knowledge of the political aspect of governance, which he mastered in two years.

    In the nearly six months that he has been in office, the governor has left no one in doubt about his deep appreciation of the problems that confront the state, and the solutions that must be brought to bear in getting it out of the economic doldrums in which it has been. He has gone about the business of erecting structures that would support his industrialisation drive, knowing that it is the only way the state can emerge from its past and be economically relevant in the Nigeria of the 21st century.

    The office Udom is occupying today is, for him, not a fulfillment of a personal ambition, certainly, not an ambition he could have nursed while making his mark in the nation’s financial sector, where he rose to the pinnacle of his career as a chartered accountant. It is a case of seizing a rare opportunity presented by providence to mastermind the economic revolution of a state with which he was proud to identify, even when he did not know he would one day be the one to inaugurate that revolution.

    Udom represents the positive change that only a new order can guarantee for Akwa Ibom. This explains the continued rise of his profile since he became governor, because the people see in him a man who is genuinely committed to taking the state to new heights.

    They see a governor who is not driven by any desire to settle old scores or fulfill a personal lifetime ambition. Above all, they see, in what he has achieved in so short a time, that they made the right choice on April 11. It is the reason they will stand with him all the way.

     

    Udom, the Peoples Democratic Party candidate in the election was, until his appointment to replace Umana as secretary to the government, a prominent member of the Akwa Ibom ‘Diaspora’ in Lagos – a group of professionals who have distinguished themselves in different areas of endeavour in the nation’s commercial capital.

    After many years in the private sector, which saw him rise to the position of executive director in one of Nigeria’s biggest banks, he is well equipped for the task of reinventing the wheel of progress in Akwa Ibom, in a manner only someone with a good grasp of the workings of the private sector and its strategic importance in economic development can do.

    That is why some analysts believe the forthcoming state governorship election re-run in the state is not really a contest between two political parties – the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the All Progressives Congress (APC). Nor is it just a contest between two individuals – Udom and Umana Okon Umana. It goes beyond all that.

    Even before the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) blew the whistle for official commencement of electioneering ahead of last April election, it had been known that the race to Government House, Uyo, was going to be a battle of sorts between two political parties; between two individuals; between two power blocks and between two spheres of interests in the state. That there were, at the final count, four candidates for the governorship election, did nothing to change the fact that it was, essentially, a two-horse race.

    Umana, the APC candidate, came into the election representing many interests. Firstly, to fulfill a lifetime ambition of occupying the highest office in the state, if only as a befitting climax to many years in public service, which saw him hold such offices as director of budget; permanent secretary; commissioner for finance and secretary to the government. He is also working hard to protect the interest of his party by re-establishing its relevance in the state.

    Umana has been a lucky chap. He was a permanent secretary, and would probably have been content to enjoying his retirement at the end of his career. But former Governor Victor Attah made him commissioner for finance, a position that made him prominent on the corridors of power and exposed him to the inner workings of government. His position as secretary to the government under former Governor Godswill Akpabio placed him only two steps away from the top job, and apparently further ignited his interest in the ultimate office.

    As the number three man in the executive branch, Umana wielded a lot of influence and power. It helped his case that the rumour mills literally gave him the governorship of the state, at the completion of Akpabio’s tenure. But it wasn’t to be.

    • Abiola wrote this piece from Uyo, Akwa Ibom State.
  • NSCDC arrests 70, convicts 7 vandals in Akwa Ibom

    NSCDC arrests 70, convicts 7 vandals in Akwa Ibom

    The Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), Akwa Ibom Command, said on Sunday that it had arrested 70 suspected vandals and convicted seven of them between June and November.

    The state Commandant of the Corps, Mr Emmanuel Ojeniyi, disclosed this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Uyo.

    Ojeniyi said that the seven persons were convicted for pipeline vandalism and adulteration of petroleum products.

    He said that the command had 36 cases pending in court and expressed hope that it would secure more convictions from the cases.

    “I want to say that within this short period, we have made 70 arrests and secured seven convictions and we still have 36 cases pending in court.

    “We have also investigated 19 cases and will soon charge the suspects to court while 17 cases have been abandoned for lack of witnesses,” he said.

    The corps commandant also said that during the period, the command impounded some trucks that were abandoned by the pipeline vandals when its personnel confronted them.

    Ojeniyi said that the command would continue to collaborate with other security agencies to fight vandals in the state.

    He expressed optimism that with such cooperation, oil theft, petroleum product adulteration and vandalism of electricity installations would effectively be curtailed in the state.

    He said that the activities of the hoodlums had hindered the country’s economic growth and required the collective efforts of all citizens to eradicate the menace.

    The commandant said that NSCDC was firmly committed to enforcing government policies and programmes in accordance with the law to deal with the problem.

    He urged Akwa Ibom residents to regard security agents as their friends and volunteer useful information on the activities of criminals to the command for prompt action.