The immediate past Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Senator Godswill Akpabio, on Thursday, told his supporters to avoid swearing to any fetish oath in support of any candidate during the forthcoming elections.
Akpabio who gave the charge during the inauguration of his Akwa Ibom North West Senatorial District Campaign Council, warned, “Let me also caution our supporters. Whoever brings money to you, collect it but vote your conscience because your vote will surely count this time around.
‘‘Don’t swear to any fetish oath. Vote APC all the way. Don’t allow the ongoing court case challenging the candidacy of Obong Akan Udofia to deter you; he remains the candidate of the party.’’
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Inaugurating the council at the campaign office, in Ikot Ekpene Local Government Area, the Vice Chairman of the APC Presidential Campaign Council stated that the party “is the one to beat in the forthcoming election in 2023 across the country.”
A press release by Jackson Udom, Chief Press Secretary To Akpabio, said the members are advised to go into the nooks and crannies of the Senatorial District to canvass votes for the party at all levels of election.
The former Senate Minority Leader who is also the APC candidate for the Senatorial District, said “the people of Ikot Ekpene Senatorial District want to use this election to prove to the world that their son, Senator Godswill Akpabio, won the senatorial election in 2019 but the results were manipulated against him and one of those who took part in that heinous crime, is today cooling off in the prison.”
“The outcome of that election was taken to Uyo against what the law says and the rest is now history. Another opportunity now beckons for the good people of Ikot Ekpene Senatorial District to prove a point, that their votes were for me in 2019,” he stated.
Speaking further, the former governor of Akwa Ibom State said, “I was planning to come back to this state as your president. When I assessed the APC, I noticed that we needed peace and unity in the party and since the Northern Governors in their show of patriotism, have decided that power should come to the south, I had to give my support to one of the founding fathers of the party and a man with vision and mission, Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
“I have just returned from the North with our Presidential candidate, Asiwaju Tinubu. From what I saw, he enjoys tremendous support from our northern brothers. He is accepted all over the country and from the political indices on ground, he will emerge the next president.
“A vote for me to go to the Senate is a vote for appointments, human capital development, sand empowerment and taking Akwa Ibom to the centre of national politics.
“I will campaign in all the units, wards and local government areas of the state. I will preach the message of hope because the Egyptian you see today, you shall see them again no more. They will lie against us, blackmail us and say whatever they want to say against us, but at the end of all that the will of God shall be done.”
Akpabio observed that “this election has nothing to do with party affiliation. The people of Ikot Ekpene who are members of other parties have resolved to vote individual based on past performance and trust for the development of the district and that individual is me.”
‘‘The BVAS,’’ according to him, “is the game changer. All your votes for me will count at the end of the day. They succeeded in the past to upturn the general wish of the people of my district, but this time around, they will fail because the people will vote and protect their votes.”
A newspaper Publisher and Caucus chairman of the APC in Akwa Ibom North West Senatorial District, Arc. Ubokutom Nya, emerged the Director-General of the Campaign Council, while a former Ika Local Government Chairman, Saviour Enyiekere emerged as his deputy.
Other members of the council are the current DG of the Akwa Ibom Democratic Forum (ADF), Hon. Ekperikpe Ekpo, and former Special Assistant to Governor, Surveyor Mfoniso Essien, among others.
