…As Nsit Atai boils, Stakeholders call for rejection of the list
… Urge the Governor to intervene to instill legality in the party
… Don’t include any member of the published list in next list
Infuriated by the publication of recommended Chapter and Ward Executive members of the PDP in Nsit Atai Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State, the stakeholders have unanimously called for the cancellation of the list.
The Crest newspaper had in its edition of Monday, May 13, 2024 published a four-page advertorial entitled: ‘‘Peoples Democratic Party, Recommended Chapter EXCO members and Recommended Ward EXCO Members.’’
Since the publication of the unsigned document, it has generated a fit of anger and criticisms among the party’s members and stakeholders across the state.
While some feigned knowledge of the publication, majority called on the Governor who is the Leader of the party and other well-wishers to disregard what they styled ‘’invalid and unauthorised document.’’
In an interview with Straightnews correspondent, the State PDP Chairman, Elder Aniekan Akpan, on Wednesday, May 15 in his office, he disowned the publication.
Akpan, who had earlier presided over a meeting of PDP Chapter chairmen and key officials in the state last Wednesday at the party’s Secretariat, Atan Offot, Uyo, expressed shock at the publication, which he admitted, did not emanate from his party.
He told the correspondent what the party was yet to elect new executive members into chapter and ward levels.
According to him, the party has fixed June 2 for the Ward Congress election, wondering why people published a list in an election that is yet to be conducted.
Also speaking, Rt. Hon. Lawrence Udosen, the State PDP Deputy Chairman admitted, ‘‘Yes, I have seen the publication. When the newspaper publication came out, I had calls from all and sundry because up till this moment, nothing was heard in Nsit Atai about Ward Congress. You will recall that His Excellency, the Governor, and the leader of the party had constituted some committees to make recommendations to him. As a leader of the party, he has authority to do that.’’
Udosen who is PDP Stakeholder in Nsit Atai bemoaned ‘‘Unfortunately, in Nsit Atai, we have leaders who are desperate- they are desperados particularly the person of Otuekong Raphael Bassey, the Commissioner for Housing because he is the head of everything. I want to tell you that a lot of ward leaders and stakeholders in Nsit Atai did not know anything about the ward congress including my self- the state Deputy Chairman of PDP.
‘‘You know the Constitution of our party says that every committee must be set up by the State Working Committee of the party. So, the simple instruction His Excellency gave was for them to call stakeholders and brainstorm with the issue of the congress. They including Otuekong Bassey thought it was an opportunity for him to go and create structures for himself- the structures he never had.
‘‘So, he went into a hotel, wrote down some names. In fact, those are his cronies. They want to use the structures (they are not keeping the structures for the party) to sell and make money.’’
According to him, ‘‘But a cross section of the leaders even the Transition Chairman did not know anything about the list. In my ward, I did not know those who were picked until I saw the publication. Most of the people in the ward list are not even people from my ward. They are not PDP members, in fact, some of them are in the APC.
‘‘So, it is an affront in fact a slap on the party that without the party authorising the publication, people should go to press and do a pre-advertorial. It is an affront on the Governor. I am calling on the Governor to intervene; otherwise, if we take it legally or another political party takes it up, they will come against us and it won’t be good.’’
Asked if he accepts the leaked list, Udosen responded ‘‘There was no congress nor was there any consultation by the stakeholders. The stakeholders were not there and nobody was called for any meeting. They only called their houseboys.’’
Udosen, therefore, called on the Governor to disregard the list because the Governor said ‘‘Go and ask the ward leaders and other leaders in each of the ward to sit down and agree.’’
He insisted ‘‘There was nothing like that in my local government area both at the chapter and the ward levels. So, it is insulting especially for a stakeholder who has staked his money (I have staked my money and time and I am a stakeholder as well as the state Deputy Chairman of the party).
‘‘My party does not know about it. The state PDP Chairman, Rt. Hon. Aniekan Akpan is highly embarrassed by this publication. The State Working Committee is highly embarrassed. When we met and deliberated upon, we said ‘‘This man has insulted the party. He simply says the party is not existing.’’
On the action the Governor should take against the leaked document, Udosen said ‘‘The leader of the party should intervene and each member of this published list should not form the new list of the ward congress. They should not form a part of the congress; otherwise it is a court issue. We will contest what they are doing. How can you wake up (the Governor being the leader of the party), you went and published a list that the Governor is not aware.
‘‘I think this is one too many scandals for this man in the Housing ministry. I am very disappointed in him. He could not recognise myself (the state Deputy Chairman), the Transition Chairman, he did not recognise the South-South Zonal Officer of the party who is higher than all of us here. In his ward, he does not know what is happening. Is that not an insult on the people? After he will call himself a political leader of the area, who is he leading? I am embarrassed.’’
Speaking too in an interview with our correspondent on Friday, May 17, Mr. Monday Charles Akpan, the PDP South-South Zonal Officer, said ‘‘It is the practice of the party to always conduct elections into wards every four years.’’
Akpan said as a result of this, the party constituted a five-member committee comprising the state Commissioner for Housing as Chairman, House of Representatives, member, House of Assembly, Transition Chairman and another official as members for Nsit Atai.
He hailed the state Governor for setting up the committee and directing the committee members to follow the party’s guidelines in the reconstitution of the chapter and ward EXCO members.
According to him, “Since the committee was set up, it has not met officially, but was hijacked by a cabal borne by greed to further their personal and selfish interests.
“The committee later set up a five-member committee in each of the 10 wards in the area.
“Unfortunately, the committee violated the provisions of the party’s constitution in that the existing ward leaders were excluded from the purported elections into the chapter and ward EXCO members list.
‘‘For example, in ward 1, the State Deputy Chairman who is also the ward leader of the party was not carried along. In Ward 2, Apostle Umanah Benjamin was sidelined.
In ward 3 where I am a Zonal Officer and a ward leader, I was sidelined. In fact, I was asked to work with the Council’s Transition Vice Chairman alleged to have been elected as the ward leader. What an insult! In Ward 4, Idorenyin Inyang, immediate past Vice Chairman and Chairman of Ward Leaders Forum in Nsit Atai was benched. In Ward 5, the Transition Chairman was not carried along. How can the list be accepted”
He blamed the Commissioner for Housing, Otuekong Raphael Bassey whom, he said, has plotted after his exit as a Commissioner to form local government using his crony in the council for his selfish interest, saying “This was the reason he influenced the list to enable him to produce the next Council’s Chairman in the forthcoming election.”
Akpan equally blamed Rt. Hon. Mark Esset who, he said, boasted that he would serve as a member of House Representatives for 20 years. “He is manipulating the list to favour his ambition to remain in power even after he has remained in power for 20 years having served as a Transition Chairman, a two-term House of Assembly member and now House of Representatives.”
The Zonal officer also said “the next person is the member representing Nsit Atai in the House of Assembly, Hon. Aniefiok Attah. He is doing everything to control the ward structures to enable him to go for a second term, even though he knows that the zoning formula does not favour him.”
Mr. Monday Charles Akpan, the PDP South South Zonal Officer
Akpan expressed anger on the published list, noting “What the committee has done by publishing the chapter and ward EXCO members list is a slight on the state governor who is the leader of the party. Of the 31 local government areas, it is Nsit Atai alone that has published its list. Ideally, when a list of elected officers is ready, it should have been submitted to the Governor for scrutiny. The Governor will then send it to National Working Committee in Abuja for scrutiny and approval. When the list returns, the party in the state would then publish it as authentic list.”
He then called on the state Governor to discard the leaked list and disband the Local Organising Committee and reconstitute a new one to conduct the ward election for Nsit Atai.
In an interview with our correspondent on Thursday, May 16, the Nsit Atai Transition Chairman, Mrs Emem Ibanga said ‘‘When I heard about the published list, I sent one of my Personal Assistants to buy copies for me. When I saw it, I was shocked because there was no ward congress in my area. I think there is a process for the ward congress. The party has a process within the specific timeframe and a stipulated time in ensuring the list is prepared and published.
‘‘To me, the published list is invalid, and the governor should see it as an invalid document. I am a member of the Local Government Ward Congress. We are yet to conduct election into the chapter and ward committees,’’ she noted.
However, Otuekong Raphael Bassey in an interview with our correspondent on Saturday, May 18 dismissed the list as “fake.”
Bassey said nobody should take the list seriously, but should be allowed to die slowly.
Despite calls and a text message by our correspondent, Rt. Hon. Esset did not respond to some allegations levelled against him by some stakeholders in his area.
