Crisis rocking All Progressives Congress in Essien Udim Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State has deepened following emergence of a new group in the party, Straightnews has learned.
The online newspapers reliably learned that the appointment of Hon. Nse Ntuen into the APC National Committee on Women and Youth Mobilization for the upcoming Membership Registration and Revalidation exercise starting on January 25, 2021 has given verve to the new group but sent jitters to opposing faction of the party in the area.
An anonymous source told Straightnews that ”A new group that has emerged in the area is led by Hon. Nse Ntuen, a former two-term State ALGON Chairman, Vice President of National ALGON and a one-term member of AKHA who represented Essien Udim State Constituency.
”It has Hon. Emmanuel Sunday Akpan, a two-term member who represented Essien Udim State Constituency and a former member of the Federal House of Representatives from 2015-2019 as well as Barr. Ibanga Ime Akpabio, a former State Deputy Chairman of PDP and a former Commissioner for Manpower, Labour and Productivity as members.’’
The trio joined Senator Godswill Akpabio in defecting to APC in August 2018, but they have supposedly turned their back on him.
In 2019 Ntuen had sought re-election into Essien Udim State Constituency under APC and lost. Similarly, Akpan sought re-election of Ikot Ekpene-Essien Udim-Obot Akara Federal Constituency, but lost too.
It is rumoured by some that Emmanuel Akpan, Nse Ntuen, and Ibanga Akpabio felt ‘marginalized’ and ‘abandoned’ by the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs and as such they decided to take their destiny in their hands in looking for another political umbrella.
”Last December, these APC stalwarts from Essien Udim LGA paid a solidarity visit to the Member/Secretary of the National Caretaker and Extra-Ordinary Convention Planning Committee, Senator John James Akpanudoedehe,’’ another confided in the online newspapers.
”It is understood that Ntuen’s background as a former two-term State ALGON Chairman, and also a Vice President of National ALGON while he served as Chairman of Essien Udim Local Government Area from 2008 to 2015 stood him out for the nomination into the strategic committee. Fingers are already pointed as the handwork of AkpanUdoedehe.’’
”To make good the MOU reached during that visit, Sen. Udoedehe has exhibited his good faith in this appointment,’’ a close source narrated.
It is said that Akpanudoedehe’s spouse comes from Ikot Inyang in Ikot Ekpene Local Government Area, a community that shares boundary with Essien Udim on the Ukana axis.
It is expected that the legendary over a hundred and twenty thousand registered voters in Essien Udim may swing to the in-road strategy of Akpanudoedehe.
The group has discreetly vowed to embark on aggressive membership recruitment to boost the party’s numerical strength in Essien Udim as the membership registration and Revalidation exercise commences.
Some political observers have posited that with this development, the camp of the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs has been depleted of some known and tested loyalists.
