Iniobong Sunday
A socio-political group, Democracy Watch Alliance, DEWA, has decried spate of attacks laced with blackmails against one of the governorship aspirants, Mr. Akan Okon, in the May 25 primary of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Akwa Ibom State.
The attacks are linked with the case of alleged multiple forgeries Okon instituted against Pastor Umo Eno, who is the PDP Governorship candidate in the state.
The Deputy Governor of Edo State and chairman of the primary committee, Philips Shuaibu, declared Pastor Umo Eno, as having overwhelmingly won the contest, but Okon, former Commissioner for Economic Development and Ibom Deep Seaport, who emerged the second runners-up, faulted Eno’s candidature, alleging that his educational credentials, age and his Permanent Voter’s Card, PVC, were forged.
He, therefore, approached the Federal High Court, Uyo, the state capital, in a suit number: FHC/UY/CS/110/2022, seeking the court presided over by Justice Agatha Okeke, to declare him the eventual winner, based on the relevant sections of the Electoral Act 2022 and the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended) respectively.
Apparently worried over a series of attacks directed at the camp of Okon, by those opposed to his reaction, the National Coordinator of DEWA, Prince Sam Akwaowo, described the attacks as unwarranted, given the fact that, “the action of Akan Okon, is not a fight against any individual, but a struggle to save the face of the ruling PDP in the state.”
Speaking to newsmen in Uyo, the state capital Thursday, Comrade Akwaowo, warned against unnecessary overheating of the polity going into the crucial elections’ year, and urged those he described as political jobbers, especially from government quarters to “stop the campaigns of mudslinging and sheathe your sword while waiting for the final determination of the case on November 28.”
“Akan Okon is a man of peace seeking to save Akwa Ibom that had been under the PDP administration since the return of democracy in 1999 from being taken over by the opposition as it happened in Bayelsa state.
“He is not fighting governor Udom Emmanuel, because both of them had been close friends and confidant for over 40 years, and had also been working with Umo Eno, in the State Executive Council, SEC, for a couple of years.
“It is on record that Mr Okon worked assiduously to ensure his good friend, the governor remain on his seat as the fourth civilian Governor of the state, when it appeared in 2015, that he was on his way out after the tribunal had cancelled elections in 18, out of the 31 local government areas, and the verdict affirmed by the Appeal Court.
“So, it is for the court to determine whether Umo Eno’s alleged cocktail of frauds and the baggage of lies surrounding his ‘O’ Level Certificates, age and PVC could easily be waved away by mere technicalities and not on merit,” he stressed, urging those trying to make a big capital out of the case to sustain the prevailing peace.
“It is noteworthy that Mr. Okon and those in his camp, as a patriotic citizens of the state, has continued to maintain peace in the face of these unwarranted provocation in his struggle to salvage the state from the embarrassment of being taken over by opposition, and we believe now is the time for lovers of the PDP and the state to bury sentiments and be part of the rescue mission,” the group warned.
