Akwa Ibom: PDP candidate’s congratulatory message douses tension in Akpabio’s LG

The controversies that trailed the announcement of Ntiedo Usoro of the All Progressives Congress, APC, as the winner of the October 5 local government election in Essien Udim local government area of Akwa Ibom State is gradually dying down.

This is following the congratulatory message put out by the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, candidate, Enobong Patrick Friday who was earlier alleged to have won the polls.

Essien Udim is the local government of the Senate president, Senator Godswill Akpabio of the APC.

In a video circulating online, the Returning Officer of Essien Udim, Professor Inyang Ating had announced the PDP candidate as the winner having polled 55,612 votes, while his closest rival, Ntiedo Usoro of the APC scored 686 votes.

But the Chairman, Akwa Ibom State Independent Electoral Commission, AKISIEC, Elder Aniedi Ikoiwak, the following day, announced that APC won in Essien Udim while the PDP won in the remaining 30 local government areas of the state.

According to the AKISIEC Chairman, PDP polled 22,799 votes, while APC scored 51,751 votes to be declared the winner in Essien Udim.

The announcement, however, generated a lot of heat in the state, especially from PDP stakeholders as they alleged it was a broad day robbery to appease the Senate President.

In a radio programme monitored by our correspondent in Uyo, the incident was described as a political palliative to APC so that the governor would maintain a cordial relationship with the Senate President and continue to draw federal presence to the state.

According to one of the political watchers, “what happened in Essien Udim was just a gentleman’s agreement. It was purely based on the relationship the governor has with the senate president. Just a political palliative.”

A caller at the programme said though Akpabio is on ground in his area but when it comes to local government elections, people have their preferences.

However, the AKISIEC Chairman while briefing journalists in his office dissociated himself from the video, describing it as fake and orchestrated to cause confusion.

He said the 1999 constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended) has given him power to appoint Returning Officers for the conduct of the local government elections, adding that he never appointed Prof Ating.

While describing the result from Ating as fake, Ikoiwak said that AKISIEC appointed Professor Uduak Okon of the Medical Sciences Department as the Returning Officer for the area and he submitted his results accordingly.

His words, ‘‘The said Professor Ating was not appointed by us. I wonder why he announced results he was not assigned to do so.

“I later learnt from a credible source that the drama was staged in Ewet Housing Estate, Uyo. An unidentified man was conscripted to read the purported result.

‘‘The crowd at the background consisted of hired drivers of their masters who toned the background to make it look real without allowing the video camera man to capture their true faces,’’ the AKISIEC boss narrated.

He added, ‘‘Why is it only in Essien Udim that a Returning Officer read the result when other Returning Officers of other local government areas did not read their results?”

However, when the PDP candidate was contacted earlier for his reactions, he declined comment, saying ”please I don’t want to talk to anybody.”

DAILY POST gathered that pressure was mounted on him to accept defeat with a promise of compensation.

He yielded by sending in a congratulatory message to his opponent.

The message has relatively doused the tension in the state.

His message read in parts, “On behalf of my family, the EnoAbasi Campaign Organisation and the PDP in Essien Udim LGA, I write to congratulate you on your swearing in by the governor of the state, His Excellency, Pastor Umo Eno as the Executive Chairman of Essien Udim.

“Election is over, this is the time of governance and as you assume duty as the executive chairman, I pledge my support, loyalty and solidarity for the success of your administration. What matters is the overall interest of our people.”

Meanwhile, a chieftain of the PDP, who pleaded anonymity, decried the development, describing it as a conspiracy to thwart the decision of the people who voted for their preferred candidate.

He said the subsequent congratulatory message by the PDP candidate was borne out of pressure to give legitimacy to the APC.

According to him, “the candidate (PDP) has been pressured to release that statement to give credibility to the process as well as legitimise the APC chairman regime.

“In a sane clime, the professor who declared the APC candidate ought to have been arrested for electoral heists and be tried for conspiracy to thwart the decision of the people who voted overwhelmingly for the PDP.

“What this political arrangement portends is a task for our legislators because the governor controls the electoral umpire at the state level and can determine where victory is tilted to against the wishes of the people.

“It is a total waste of taxpayers’ money, pretending to conduct elections.”