It was supposed to be a mere political consultation with the members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Governor Godswill Akpabio’s local government area in Essien Udim but it all ended in violence. Several people were injured.
The political team of a PDP governorship aspirant and senator representing Akwa Ibom South/Eket Senatorial District, Senator Helen Esuene, left Eket on a political consultation but the meeting was disrupted by youths from Governor Godswill Akpabio’s Local Government Area who attacked the gathering.
The senator was said to be addressing the PDP members when thugs stormed the scene, attacking everybody in the hall. The thugs also upturned tables and chairs.
The senator, according to eyewitnesses, was said to have been surrounded by her supporters during the melee and whisked away from the scene of the incident.
The Chapter Chairman, Friday Udoh, was not spared by the youths, who descended on him for allowing Senator Esuene to come to Essien Udim for consultation.
One of the PDP members, Willie Etim, who managed to escape unhurt, said: “As I am talking to you, I am not sure if all members of the entourage came out safely. We had to rush her out immediately in the melee that left many people injured. Everything was scattered and many people were injured.”
Commenting on the incident, the Deputy Director-General of Senator Esuene’s campaign team and former Speaker of the House of Assembly, Mr. Bassey Essien, said such an ugly incident in the governor’s community was uncalled for.
He said: “I am surprised. This is democracy. I don’t see any moral justification for hired tugs to stop a sitting senator and a PDP member from canvassing for support in any part of this country. I am surprised.
“I am appealing to the party and the Federal Government to look into the incident, because as I am talking to you, I don’t know what happened to the law party members. The thugs invaded the place and they were all armed with guns, shooting indiscriminately into the air.”
The cause of the violence, according to the Chairman of Essien Udim LGA, Nse Ntuen, was the non-availability of transport fare for the youths.
Ntuen said the youths were afraid that the chapter chairman would embezzle their money so they descended on him.
His words: “The non-availability of transport money sparked the protests from youths and other attendants who knew they would be leaving home without their usual transport money. They descended on the chapter Chairman Friday Udoh.”
Esuene, in an account by www.theeagleonline.com.ng and National Mirror, said she was attacked by political thugs during her campaign for the governorship ticket of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) at the party’s secretariat in the local government.
Her words: “We arrived the Peopless Democratic Party office Essien Udim Local Government Area at about 3pm and were warmly received by the party Chairman, Mr. Friday Udo, and other party officials and then conducted into the hall with songs and dances.
“Party officials, women, elders and youth filled the hall. The person who returned my stolen phone, is, interestingly, the Personal Assistant to the Senior Special Assistant to the Governor, Ukopng Akpabio, who is cousin to the governor. They are of the same family.
The armed youths who came into the hall were identified by the people. They are not strangers.
“They are from the area. The incident happened on Wednesday and up till now, the local government chairman has not deemed it fit to call me in order to find out what happened but he had gone on air to say I was not the target and went further to describe the incident as a mere misunderstanding between the boys and the chapter chairman. I ask myself: a mere misunderstanding, which led to injuring of many people?
“A very peaceful assembly was disrupted. The hall was vandalised, people’s cars destroyed and personal property like phones, shoes and money stolen in the process. If it was a mere misunderstanding between the chapter chairman and the youths, why didn’t they wait for me to leave? Why didn’t they go to his house, after all he lives with them?
“Why did they have to come while visitors were holding a legal meeting in a party office? Up till now, there had been no arrest yet. I am still waiting, but in a nutshell, the people that came in were not part of what was happening in the hall. They came from outside. They did not make any statement. They did not talk to anybody. They just came straight to the hall.”
Ntuen said neither the senator nor any member of her campaign team was touched or harassed by the protesters.
He, however, said he was aware of the visit of the senator and her campaign team to the local government area.
The council chairman said the ignorance of the organisers of the consultation in not involving the security operatives from the local government left a large security gap at the function.
The local government chairman apologised to Esuene and her team over the “intransigence” of the Essien Udim PDP chapter chairman.
The state government also condemned the attack on the senator.
Commissioner for Information and Communications Aniekan Umanah said Akpabio instructed him to dissociate the state from the attack.
His words: “The governor has condemned the attack of Senator Helen Esuene. The action of the irate youths on the distinguish senator is condemnable.
“The governor is not happy over the incident. The local government was not against any aspirant from coming to the area for consultation or campaign.”
Umanah added that the attack was not targeted at Esuene, but the youth were not happy with the Peoples’ Democratic Party Chapter Chairman, Friday Udoh.
He said that the crisis erupted because Udoh had instructed the senator to pay their consultation fee of N1m into his account which was improper and unacceptable to the youths.
Akwa Ibom State Police Commissioner Gabriel Achong denied any knowledge of attack on Esuene.
CP Achong said it was a case of misunderstanding between the senator and the youths over money.
His words: “I was told the senator came for consultation and they were in the Unity Hall. After the consultation, it got to the issue of money. The senator said she had paid in the money into the party’s account.
“The youths asked why she paid the money into the party account because the youths wanted cash. The police escorted the senator out of the venue immediately. Not that somebody came from anywhere to attack the senator. There was no commotion/attack of any sort.”
While condemning the attack on the senator, the President, Essien Udim Council on Political Affairs, Aniefiok Akpan, decried the rising political tension in the state.
Akpan said if such was not contained, it could escalate to the point of disrupting the political process and governance in the state.
