Senator John James Akpanudoedehe, the former national secretary of All Progressives Congress Caretaker/Extraordinary Convention Planning Committee, has thrown his hat into Akwa Ibom governorship ring in the 2023 general elections.
Addressing the gathering of the party chiefs at Ibom Hall grounds in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State capital on Saturday, Akpanudoedehe said, if given the APC ticket and ultimately earn the mandate of the people of the South-South state, his priority would be poverty alleviation and urban renewal.
Though the former Minister of State, Federal Capital Territory, (FCT) is the first APC chieftain to signify interest in the governorship ticket of the party in the oil-rich state, Obong Umanah Okon Umanah, the Managing Director of Oil and Gas Free Zone Authority (OGFZA) and Senator Ita Enang, Senior Special Assistant to the President on Niger Delta Affairs, among others are rumoured to be interested in the plum job.
Akpanudoedehe noted that with the empowerment of the people, particularly the youth, crime rate would have been substantially reduced.
He said: “My focus will be how to deliver my people from poverty. God has given me a special gift and it is how to deliver you from poverty. We have been in this battle for a long and we have suffered. We have been battered with lies but we survived.”
“It is time to empower the people not to depend on stipends. We will make Akwa-Ibom the hub for technology. We will give you urban renewal, particularly in Eket Local Government Area,” the former governorship candidate on the platform of the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria.
Senator Akpanudoedehe also said he would introduce “primary industry in each of the three senatorial areas.”
In his remarks, Victor Giadom, National Vice Chairman, South-South region, who represented Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, commended Senator Akpanudoedehe for his diligence while he was on the saddle as a national secretary.
He further revealed that it was the decision of stakeholders of the party in the South-south geopolitical zone that the former FCT Minister should contest for the exalted seat of governor of Akwa Ibom State.
Making allusion to leadership tussle in the state chapter of the APC, Giadom admonished the party chieftains to work together as one political family to dislodge the Peoples Democratic Party in the state.
He said: “As Caretaker Committee national secretary, I don’t need to emphasize that he was very visible. His visibility almost returned him to the national secretariat but I told him he needed to go back home and reshape the party at home.
“I can say clearly here that the crowd here today is clear proof that the APC here is viable and strong. Nobody can say we aren’t strong in Akwa Ibom. Let us keep working together, we are close to election and this isn’t time for us to fight ourselves but work together for the actualisation of APC success in Akwa Ibom. From the leaders I have seen here, the APC will bring victory to us.
“Let us come together, allow forgiving and take and face our common enemy. Let us work together so that we can bring victory. I will like to come back here with the APC sitting in the Government House. I urge you to go back to your respective unit to bring victory to APC. We can deliver APC to Akwa Ibom.”
Former Minister of Petroleum Resources Akwa Ibom State, Chief Don Etiebet, has said the All Progressives Congress National Working Committee acted in error when it swore in Honourable Stephen Ntukekpo as Chairman of the APC, Akwa-Ibom State chapter.
Chief Etiebet, who is Akwa Ibom APC chief made the declaration at the weekend in Uyo during the declaration for the governorship seat by the immediate past national secretary of the party, Senator John James Akpanudoedehe.
Addressing the party faithful at the event held at Ibom Hall in Uyo, the state capital, Chief Etiebet said certain stakeholders of the party, including himself, had since met the Senator Adamu led APC NWC and explained the true position of how Honorable Ekanem emerged at the Congress held in the South-South state.
He appealed to aspirants seeking the party ticket ahead of the next general elections not to be dismayed, expressing confidence that the national secretariat of the party would defer to the directive of the Court of Appeal which has said Ekanem remained the chairman of APC in Akwa-Ibom.
He said: “APC erroneously, mistakenly sworn in an impostor as the chairman. “The national leadership in performing that was deceived, ill-informed and we have taken immediate steps to inform them properly.
“We wrote a letter to the national chairman and said all what he was told were lies and he has taken cognisance of that.
“And our adversaries who are good at telling lies have brought out a court order that his factional chairman should be sworn in. A man who didn’t attend the Congress, couldn’t have been elected.
“We have told them that the judicial order form the Abuja High court was given out of ignorance because they don’t know the fact of the case.
The Appeal Court has said the status quo before the high court order was given be maintained.
“What is the status quo: that (Augustine Ekanem has been sworn in along with 35 others by the CECPC. So, the new NWC has no locus or power to override the national convention.
“The people who are best in telling lies, whose character is in telling lies, have said the party has withdrawn its appeal in order to dismiss the appeal. The CECPC took the step to appeal the order of the High Court. It didn’t withdraw its appeal.”
Also speaking, Chairman of the Akwa-Ibom Rescue Team, Archbishop Samuel Akpan, said Senator Akpanudoedehe, if given the APC ticket has the capacity to defeat whoever emerges as the candidate of the PDP.
“Today, we have come to honour our own, who completed his assignment in Abuja in grand style. He is about to begin another assignment. We came here to receive him to reassign him; to come and serve as the next governor of Akwa-Ibom State. We are calling you to come and rescue Akwa-Ibom from lawlessness. So, on behalf of the Akwa-Ibom people, I hereby present Akpanudoedehe who never betrayed his former boss, Governor Buni to come and take the challenge and contest the governorship of Akwa-Ibom.”
Speaking too, Mr. Umanah has advised the national leadership to restore the Augustine Ekanem led leadership of the party he insists was validly elected.
Umanah who is presently the Managing Director of the Oil and Gas Free Zone Authority lamented that those he described as food is ready politicians were the ones behind the factional crisis in the state chapter of the party.
Speaking against the background of the endorsements and commendations poured on Akpanudoedehe by party leaders at the reception for the former national secretary, at the weekend, Umana said:
“I am not surprised at the very warm way you have turned out to receive our very distinguished son. He made us very proud there is no question about that. I believe that he made Akwa Ibom proud because he served meritoriously as the National Secretary of our party. It is the first time we have had somebody from Akwa Ibom ascend that position at the national level.
“Well what we are witnessing today I don’t have anything to say because our Leader Atuekong Don Etiebet briefed you very comprehensively. And I will like to add my voice to say that “on Status quo we stand’. Because as Leader of the party in Akwa Ibom we are Law-abiding.
“We have been advised by the Lawyer of Senator John Akpanudoedehe as to what the status quo means. That is why we will continue to recognize Augustine Ekanem as the State Chairman of our party.”
Calling on the national leadership to tow the path of rule of law, Umana said:
“And we will like to appeal to the National leadership of our party that they should please save us from this distraction, so that we can focus on the task ahead, which is to win government house in 2023.
“Some of these people, you know they don’t know what we have suffered from 2015. They came when dinner has been served. Some of us were in the kitchen but when the food was ready they took over, they pushed all of us out.
“But we have determined that we will restore our party to the path of glory, because the antics of this people may lead to a situation where we may have no candidate in Akwa Ibom, and they will not care. So we are appealing to the national leadership , they should look at this matter, and the Congress that was properly conducted, there is a video, the Chairman who was designated to handle the Congress by the party, Alhaji B. Sheriff we have him on tape, on video announcing the results for goodness sake.
“He petitioned the IGP, the Director SSS that his signature was forged. We cannot run the party on the basis of criminality, we cannot. And that is why all of these leaders you find here are determined that we will stand on the truth.
” I cannot be playing that video in my house and see Ekanem being declared winner by Banky Sheriff to conduct the primaries here and somebody else suddenly becomes the Chairman.
“I congratulate my brother, he is a man of capacity, he is the caterpillar of Akwa Ibom politics, when he moves the ground will shake. So they are afraid because they know he is a caterpillar, my brother God will be with you , and may God bless APC.”
