Akwa Ibom APC Leaders Disown Controversial REC, Cleared By Senate

…Hon. Eyiboh hails Tinubu for appointing State’s Indigenes

Sunday Aborisade in Abuja

Leaders of the All Progressives Congress, APC, from Akwa Ibom State, on Sunday, disowned an indigene of the state, Etekamba Umoren, whose appointment as a Resident Electoral Commissioner, REC, was confirmed by the Senate on Wednesday last week.
There were series of public outcry from civil society organisations and political parties immediately President Bola Tinubu announced Umoren as one of the 10 RECs.

The CSOs and the political parties in series of press statements and conferences alleged that Umoren was a member of the APC and that there were video evidences that the man campaigned for the party in the last general elections.
The Senate however went ahead to screen and confirm him, claiming there was no official petition against the appointee.

But the convener of the Akwa-Ibom APC Leaders, Hon. Eseme Eyiboh, a protégé of Senate President Godswill Akpabio, told journalists at a news conference in Abuja on Sunday that Umoren has never been a member of the party in the state.
He described the man as a bureaucrat who rose to become a permanent secretary in Akwa Ibom State and later the secretary to the state government and Chief of Staff to Senator Godswill Akpabio, when he was governor.

Eyiboh said, “Etekamba Umoren is a bureaucrat. He served in Akwa Ibom State as a permanent secretary. He is a career civil servant and was chief of staff and then SSG. He was not appointed to serve a political party but a government.
“I have also seen some videos which claim that he wore the uniform of APC. The law is very strict and there are a plethora of Supreme Court cases on who is a member of a political party.

“The member of a political party must be not just a card-carrying member; he must be in financial standing with that political party.
“He must be among the registered members and prescription has nothing to do with uniform or mode of dressing.

“For you to take ordinary mode of dressing – the member of an organisation is not determined by their clothing to become membership of that organisation. Every organisation has its criteria for its membership.

“It is not true. It is speculative that Etekamba Umoren is a member of the APC. That is not correct.”

Eyiboh commended President Tinubu for appointing Indigenes of the state into sensitive positions in his administration.