Akpanudoedehe Joins Akwa Ibom Guber Race

As the governorship race begins in many states across the country, the former Secretary of the All Progressives Congress Caretaker Committee, Senator John James AkpanUdoedehe has declared his intention to contest the governorship ticket of the party in Akwa Ibom State, writes Segun James 

Senator John AkpanUdoedehe is one political leader in Akwa Ibom state whose worth cannot be discontenanced. When he declared his intention to contest for the top seat in the state, it did not take  many people by surprise. But the mammoth crowd that witnessed his declaration and the grand reception held in his honour in Uyo have shown he is the aspirant to beat in the party.

At the reception, he specially expressed gratitude to all party national leaders who  supported his appointment as the National Caretaker Secretary of the party including the Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, the Senate President,  Speaker of House of Representatives, Chairman of Nigeria Governor’s Forum among others.

His words: ” I want to thank the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria who allowed me the opportunity to serve as the nlNational Caretaker Secretary of this great party. I am most grateful.

“Before I say any other thing I want to accept your calls, and I hereby declare to run for the governor of Akwa Ibom state. So I say thank you so much. We have been in this battle for a long time and we have suffered. We have been battered with lies but you have been my hope Akwa Ibom people.

“God has given me a special gift. And that special gift is how to deliver you out of poverty. So we are going to give you N1million grant to 1000 people per local government to help you to prosper. I will build two international markets one in Uyo, one in Ikot Ekpene. 

“Because of the support from Annang people I am going to build a flyover at Ikot Ekpene. 

We will reactivate the Science Park that was initiated by Obong Attah. I don’t make promises that I don’t keep. I am not talking politics. I am talking something so that tomorrow you will hold me responsible”

Earlier the Chairman of the occasion, and leader of the APC in Akwa Ibom State, Chief Don Etiebet thanked all party members and leaders for gracing the grand reception within a very short notice.

“I want to appreciate this opportunity and to welcome you all to this grand reception and for you people to assemble within very short notice to give warm reception to our illustrous son and brother. I say may God bless you all,” Etiebet said.

In his remarks, the National Vice Chairman South-south APC, Chief Victor Giadom who represented the  Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi described the grand reception as deserving, adding that the crowd at the event was a clear manifestation that the APC was strong in Akwa Ibom. 

“Nobody can say the party is dying,  keep working for APC. Keep uniting. We are getting very close to election, I think it is no longer the time for us to fight among ourselves. This is the time for all of us to come together, work towards the actualisation of APC government in Akwa Ibom state.

” Let me use this opportunity to plead with everybody in Akwa Ibom state to come together and face our common enemy the PDP because of their performance.  As the National Vice Chairman of this party I will like to come back to Akwa Ibom with an All Progressive Congress governor sitting in the Government House.

“Go back to your respective units, wards to mobilize support for APC, so that we can achieve victory come 2023. When I was coming my boss honourable Rotimi Amaechi said I should extend his good wishes to all of you”

On his part Mr. Umanah Okon Umanah, the Managing Director of Oil and Gas Free Zone , urged party members to stay focused and not to be distracted by ongoing litigation over the leadership of the state chapter of the party. 

I am not surprised at the very warm way you have turned out to receive our very distinguished son. He made us very proud there is no question about that. I believe that he made Akwa Ibom proud because he served meritoriously as the National Secretary of our party. It is the first time we have had somebody from Akwa Ibom ascend that position at the national level. 

Well what we are witnessing today I don’t have anything to say because our Leader Atuekong Don Etiebet briefed you very comprehensively. And I will like to add my voice to say that “on status quo we stand’.  As leaders of the party in Akwa Ibom we are law-abiding. We have been advised by the lawyer of Senator John Akpanudoedehe as to what the status quo means. That is why we will continue to recognize Augustine Ekanem as the State Chairman of our party because that is the position of  the law. . I believe that as a party  we should stay focused. These are all distraction.

“And we will like to appeal to the National leadership of our party that they should please save us from this distraction, so that we can focus on the task ahead, which is to win government house in 2023. 

“Some of these people, you know they don’t know what we have suffered from 2015. They came when dinner has been served. Some of us were in the kitchen but when the food was ready they took over, they pushed all of us out. 

” But we have determined that we will restore our party to the path of glory, because the antics of these people may lead to a situation where we may have no candidate in Akwa Ibom, and they will not care. So we are appealing to the national leadership , they should look at this matter, and the Congress that was properly conducted, there is a video, the Chairman who was designated to handle the Congress by the party, Alh B. Sheriff we have him on tape, on video announcing the results for goodness sake. He petitioned the IGP, the Director SSS that his signature was forged. We cannot run the party on the basis of criminality, we cannot. And that is why all of these leaders you find here are determined that we will stand on the truth. I cannot be playing that video in my house and see Ekanem being declared winner by Banky Sheriff. We thank God there is a rule of Law. APC will prevail in Akwa Ibom state. I congratulate my brother, he is a man of capacity, he is the caterpillar of Akwa Ibom politics, when he moves the ground will shake. So they are afraid because they know he is a caterpillar, my brother God will be with you , and may God bless APC.

Chief Don Etiebet. I want to appreciate you for this opportunity and to welcome you all to this grand reception. I am amazed to see the crowd…for you to assemble here to give a warm reception to our illustrous son and brother.  I say thank you very much may God be with you.

I will not want to talk too long after having welcomed you to this warm reception, I will like to crave the indulgence of all of you here the leadership, the followers; everybody, to bring your mind because of the event of last week,  .. leadership of the party, erroneously ,mistakenly, swore-in an impostor as the  Chairman of the party, and your minds were in disarray and worried . But you know that your leadership is equal to the task. I want to tell you that the National leadership in performing that act was ill-informed, was deceived and misinformed. We needed to inform them properly and they have been informed properly.

I want  to tell you that immediately with the help of our leaders here  Bassey Dan-Abia, Obong Umana Okon Umana, we wrote a letter, signed it and delivered it to the national Chairman and told him all that they told him were lies, and they have taken cognisance of that the person sworn in was not at the congress. And we showed the NTA News recording, to the national leadership and they noted with approval. We told them that the judicial order from the Federal High Court was given out of ignorance, so we went to appeal court and the Appeal Court ruled  that the status quo ante should remain.”

QUOTE
We wrote a letter, signed it and delivered it to the national Chairman and told him all that they told him were lies, and they have taken cognisance of that the person sworn in was not at the congress. And we showed the NTA News recording, to the national leadership and they noted with approval. We told them that the judicial order from the Federal High Court was given out of ignorance, so we went to appeal court and the Appeal Court ruled  that the status quo ante should remain