UbongAbasi Ise

By UbongAbasi Ise A witness who was not playing any role in the presidential and national assembly elections on February 23, 2019 in Akwa Ibom Northwest Senatorial district was subpoenaed to appear before the tribunal sitting in Uyo today at the instance of the Peoples’ Democratic Party, PDP, as Senator Godswill Akpabio is challenging the emergence of Senator Chris Ekpenyong as the lawmaker representing Akwa Ibom Northwest Senatorial district. In his witness statement (Exhibit R600) deposed before the tribunal, Dr. Anietie Akpan, a lecturer teaching Business management and statistics in the University of Uyo, who was called by the PDP (2 nd Respondent) to analyze the election results of Essien Udim local government area, made claims that from 115 polling unit result sheets (INEC Form EC8As) made available to him, All Progressives Congress, APC, polled 35,797 while PDP scored the total of 9,873, adding that it is not possible for the APC to score the total of 61,329 as c...

By UbongAbasi Ise Amongst all the 21 witnesses called so far by the first and second respondents in defense of a petition filed by Senator Godswill   Akpabio challenging the declaration of Senator Chris Ekpenyong as winner of February 23 senatorial election in Akwa Ibom Northwest district, Mr. Brendan Etokidem today became the first Essien Udim indigene to enter the witness box to testify against his kinsman, Senator Godswill Akpabio. While the former senate minority leader hails from Ukana in Essien Udim local government area, Mr. Etokidem is an indigene of Ikot Ebok village who was serving as ward collation agent for the Peoples’ Democratic Party, PDP, in Odoro Ikot II Ward in Essien Udim local government area on the election day. He claimed there was no election in his ward as thugs invaded the Registration Area Centre, RAC, to cart away all the elections materials and abducted ad hoc staff of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC. The witness said...

By UbongAbasi Ise Today, it seems the young ones are measuring their attractiveness on the number of likes, wows and comments on various social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Skype, WhatsApp, etc . Fortunes have been spent by young ones on high-end phones, cameras, makeups, makeovers, clothes, ornaments, and so on just to keep with the world trend that is going fetish with everything that has to do with beauty.  In a way, the digitalization of modern technology has introduced a new habit or addiction to the youth who would spend anything to go online to impress their admirers. This is a sharp departure from the past but this does not mean our ancestors were not passionate to be attractive because human admiration for beauty is naturally a convention that has existed since the beginning of time. Every human in any culture and society past and present has the tendency to desires aesthetics of human beauty. But there has never been a time people app...

By UbongAbasi Ise Ajebitimi Abraham, a subpoenaed witness called by the Peoples’ Democratic Party, PDP, who presided over polling Unit 002 in Ikpe Annang Ward in Essien Udim local government area during presidential and national assembly elections, believes both the Akwa Ibom State government and the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, were not telling the truth about the elections held in Akwa Ibom Northwest Senatorial district as he claimed elections in his ward were fraught by violence and irregularities. While on cross-examination, the petitioner’s lead counsel, S.I. Ameh, SAN, asked the witness to read some paragraphs on page 11 of the Nation Newspaper of Monday June 24, 2019 in which the Akwa Ibom State Government in a statement signed by the Secretary to the State  Government describe elections in Akwa Ibom State as generally free and fairly conducted based on reports by both domestic and foreign observers. After reading the paragraph, Abraham said ...

By UbongAbasi Ise The resumed hearing on the petition filed by Senator Godswill Akpabio against the declaration of Senator Chris Ekpeyong as the winner of February 23 Akwa Ibom North West senatorial election was on Saturday taken another interesting dimension when the Peoples' Democratic Party, PDP, called their witnesses to testify before the national assembly election tribunal sitting in Uyo, the Akwa Ibom State capital. A star witness of the day, Dr. William Olosunde, a lecturer in the University of Uyo, who served as the returning officer for Essien Udim local government area during the election, confessed before the tribunal that he did not make any cancellation on Essien Udim result (Exhibit P534) but noted that alterations were done after the result was taken out of area office of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, in Essien Udim to its state headquarters in Uyo on the orders of Mr. Mike Igini, the Resident Electoral Commissioner, REC, Akwa Ibom Sta...