2023: APC Chieftain Berates Attempts to Discredit Udofia, Others’ Emergence as Party’s Candidates

Okon Bassey in Uyo

A chieftain of the Akwa Ibom State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Mr. Eseme Eyiboh, has criticised the role of the state Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Mr. Mike Igini, to discredit the primaries of the party that produced candidates ahead for the 2023 general election in the country.

Eyiboh specifically reasoned that the state REC has no justification to state that Mr. Akan Udofia and Senator Godswin Akpabio are not governorship and senatorial candidates respectively of the party because they didn’t pass through the party’s primaries.

Eyiboh, who is the 2023 candidate of the APC for Eket federal constituency, at a press conference in Uyo at the weekend, maintained that utterances by Igini were attempts to frustrate the party primaries duly conducted across the state.

He said it was wrong for Igini to falsely claim that INEC did not monitor the party’s gubernatorial primaries that produced Udofia as candidate.

The APC chieftain in his briefing tagged: ‘Fair Hearing’, stressed that the failure of Igini to have personally observe the conduct of the governorship primaries could neither invalidate the process nor discredit the emergence of Udofia.

According to him, “It is not true that APC does not have a governorship and other candidates for the 2023 general elections.

“The Akwa Ibom state chapter of the party had followed all stipulated procedures in the conducts of the various primaries. At this point in time; it is pertinent to seek answers to some specific questions.

“How could Mike Igini have gone to the

Sheer Grace Arena for the governorship primaries of APC? Was that the official venue contained in the circular issued by the Stephen Ntukekpo-led executive?”

He noted the judgement of the Abuja Federal High Court delivered by Justice Taiwo Taiwo on March 16, 2022, which declared Ntukekpo as the chairman of APC in Akwa Ibom State.

Eyiboh recalled that the 42-page judgement was explicit; a situation which he said made the former Secretary of the party, Senator John Udoedehe, to withdraw his appeal, which further led to its dismissal by the Appeal Court.

“What we should be interested is: ‘why should Mike Igini constitute himself into a Supreme Court to upturn a judgement which appeal was further dismissed by the appeal court?

“While it is the duty of a political party to notify INEC on its political activities, it cannot drag the commission into coming to observe them. It is the responsibility of INEC to go to the designated venues to carry out their own duty.

“In the event that Mike Igini left the approved venue of the primaries to go to Sheer Grace Arena, you can then appreciate the fact that he may have been on a voyage of self-destruct,” Eyiboh argued.

He also spoke on the emergence of Senator Akpabio as candidate of the party for Akwa Ibom North-west senatorial district.

Eyiboh, a former spokesperson of the House of Representatives, recalled that the National Secretary of the party, Senator Iyiola Onisore, had issued a circular indicating that the party would re-conduct the primary that produced Senator Akpabio.

Eyiboh observed that the withdrawal of the winner of the previously conducted election, Hon. Ekperikpe Ekpo, necessitated the re-conduct of the primary and “such could not have amounted to candidate substitution as falsely peddled by Igini.”