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JOE EFFIONG, UYO
One of the governorship aspirants of the All Progressive Congress (APC) in Akwa Ibom State, Prof Christopher Ekong, has urged the other contestants who lost the primaries like him, to rally round the winner, Mr Akan Udofia so that the party would able to win the general election for the first time in the state.
Addressing a press conference on Tuesday at the Correspondents Chapel of the NUJ in Uyo, Prof Ekong, who titled his press text ” We Must Not Allow Individual Goals, Greed, Hatred, Self-centeredness and Unforgiving Spirit To Kill Our Party”, said he was not only a frontline contender in the said race; but most important a critical participant in the exercise; with the ultimate interest to emerge as the most preferred and acceptable choice of our great party
This grand desire was expectedly projected to be thrown up as the generally expressed goodwill of a majority of delegates of our great party, to whom I respectfully solicited their popular mandate to fly and indeed, bear the flag of our great party as her prime candidate in the upcoming gubernatorial elections of 2023.
“Nothing therefore could have been more cherished; nothing could have been felt more accomplished than by clinching this g and most invaluable goal.
“It should therefore be seen as certainly unarguable, that I did not participate in the race to be easily compromised, or at any rate, allow myself or the fate of my other compatriots in that race, who in the instance, represented some the finest crop of Akwa Ibom great sons, to either be defrauded or shortchanged in a race to offer the best leadership and governance solution to our beloved state.
“However, with the close of that august and benchmark event which saw one of the most accomplished sons of our great state emerge and become declared the democratically preferred choice of our esteemed delegates at the polls, I had acted in the true spirit of sportsmanship, appreciated and as well, accepted the position and decision of the All Progressives Congress (APC) as being sacrosanct and supreme in the concluded exercise.”
He however lamented that after the primaries which Mr Akan Udofia won, some segment of the party led by otherwise great party men and politicians, had elected to reject the exercise, even though he said it was free and fair.
“To us, their action while being perceived as certainly objectionable is equally left very intrusive.
” Predictably, I so perceive as well as every other right thinking and well meaning member of the All Progressives Congress, that the set act targeted at holding every media space and employing every form of sensationalism for the slightest attention, is strangely deployed to gain some fraction of acceptability, evoke some levels and substantial degree of despicable sympathy, and thus mobilize a gullible and largely unsuspecting public to be widely drawn into sharing their highly subjudiced and obviously intransigent opinions,”
Ekpng reasoned that the agitation against the primaries was surprisingly aimed at weakening the party in the most uncharitable manner and character. “This they have ultimately revealed in their thinly veiled plot to actively destabilize the party through a divide and rule procedure.”
According to him, such plots were not new to the party as they had done it since 2015 only to use the people to corner federal appointments at the detriment of the entire party in the state.
“Our eyes have opened now. ‘Oor mumu don do.‘ I was initially convinced to join in the protestation against Akan Udofia’s late entry into our Party for the governorship race until I went studiously through the Constitution of our party and realized that in line with the powers of the APC as stipulated in Article 31(2) of the APC Constitution (as amended), Akan Udofia applied for and was duly granted a waiver to contest the governorship primary election of the APC, as conveyed by the National Working Committee of the APC (through the National Secretary).
“Obong Akan Udofia had been declared winner of the APC governorship primaries” in Akwa Ibom State. I had since accepted the result as declared by the Party. I want to use this opportunity to call on all other aspirants in the race to sheathe their swords and open the doors for reconciliation and healing to support and work with the flag bearer, Obong Akan Udofia to win the governorship elections come 2023.
“The clearest opportunity open to APC to win the elections in AKS is now. So every obstacle on our road and quest to realize this must be avoided. We must accept the choice of the people and that of the party as a sacrosanct mandate that should be allowed to rule the day.: Prof Ekong pleaded.
