As Essien Udim Returns To Polling Booths
By UbongAbasi Ise
Saturday 25th January 2020 will be another milestone in Essien Udim local government area’s political narrative as the electorates would once again queue up at their respective polling units to cast their votes for their preferred candidates in a court ordered rerun for Akwa Ibom Northwest Senatorial district, Ikot Ekpene/Essien Udim/Obot Akara federal constituency and Essien Udim State constituency elections.
Tension has peaked considerably in the build-up to the rerun as the All Progressives Congress, APC, and the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, had since picked up the gauntlet to go into the battle of supremacy and to settle the 2019 general elections’ scores. Already the rerun elections have been characterized by byzantine complexities after Senator Godswill Akpabio of APC announced his withdrawal from the senatorial race in order to concentrate on national assignment. His replacement with Obongemem Ekperikpe Ekpo has also been a subject of controversy as Akwa Ibom State Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), Barr. Mike Igini, says the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, recognizes no replacement as contained in a recent statement signed by Mr. Odaro Aisien, the Head of Department, Voter Education and Publicity for the state’s Resident Electoral Commissioner. According to the statement titled: “No Substitution/Withdrawal of Candidates for Essien Udim LGA Rerun Elections,” Igini said the information became necessary, due to requests from the public regarding rumour making the rounds that the commission had substituted Obong Ekprikpe Ekpo for Senator Godswill Akpabio.
“The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Akwa Ibom State, of late, has been inundated with enquiries as to whether political parties can substitute candidates in the upcoming rerun elections in Essien Udim LGA, scheduled for January 25, 2020.
“The Commission wishes to restate that there will be no substitution or withdrawal of candidates, who contested the 2019 general elections in this court-ordered rerun election in Essien Udim LGA,” the statement said.
But in a press statement on Monday, Senator Akpabio, while urging Essien Udim people to vote for Obongemem Ekperikpe Ekpo whom his party, the All Progressives Congress, APC, had picked as his replacement, having emerged as the runner up in the primaries, noted that the APC had through the National Chairman, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole and the then Acting National Secretary, Mr. Victor T. Giadom in compliance with the requirement for 45 days notice to be given for the substitution of candidates, written to the Chairman of Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, to submit the name of Ekpo as a replacement for Senator Akpabio in the election, adding that “this was acknowledged by INEC.”
Be it as it may, the APC will be on the ballot to slug it out with the PDP to ensure that opposition’s candidate, Dr. Chris Ekpenyong, an indigene of Obot Akara local government area, is frustrated out of the race. As it would be recalled, the Appeal Court sitting in Calabar, had on 9th November, 2019, ruled that a fresh election be conducted within 90 days in Essien Udim local government, as a result of irregularities spotted in the addresses of the parties. Chris Ekpenyong is leading with 114, 973 votes from the result of nine local government areas while Akpabio has 76,917. Going into the rerun, the APC is expected to register a minimum lead of 38,056 margin to upturn the election of Senator Chris Ekpenyong of the PDP. As it stands, the APC’s strength in Essien Udim would revolve around the popularity of the son of the soil, Senator Godswill Akpabio, whom administration as the governor of Akwa Ibom State, brought unprecedented infrastructural development to Essien Udim. As some pundits have already contended, Akpabio’s popularity may rub on other APC candidates that are on the ballot. It therefore appears that it won’t be an easy ball game for the PDP as it would likely embark on serious campaign and adopt far-reaching approach to edge out the APC in the Saturday’s race.
Candidates Scrambles For Result Of 219 Polling Units
Barr. Mike Igini, the Akwa Ibom State Resident Electoral Commissioner, REC, has recently explained in a statement that for the Senatorial and House of Representatives Constituencies, elections would be conducted in 219 Polling Units (PUs) in Essien Udim, while the State constituency’s supplementary elections would be conducted in 137 units, leaving out the 22 units where results were obtained and preserved.
Peace Question On Election Day
There are contentions from different quarters regarding the meeting convened on Monday 21st January 2020, by the Paramount Ruler of Essien Udim, HRH, Cosmas Akpan, who is also chairman of Essien Udim Traditional Rulers Council. Those on the side of the PDP claims that the paramount ruler, assisted by members of the Council, convened a peace talk for all candidates participating in the re-run and political stakeholders from the local government at his palace in Ekpenyong Atai 1, following the widespread allegations that some political stakeholders from Essien Udim and by extension, the Akwa Ibom North-West Senatorial district, have perfected plans to sponsor violence in the run-off elections. On the other hand, the APC camp has claimed that the meeting was convened with the intent to administer fetish oath to the PDP loyalists. In the pictures widely circulated in the media, the paramount ruler was conspicuously seen holding the young palm frond with others persons that were in attendant. This has so far provoked divergent comments on the matter. There is rising concern if Saturday’s polls would enjoy peaceful atmosphere as the tension is high with the two major political parties raring to go all out for broke.
The rerun elections are actually between the candidates of the two most visible and rival political parties, the PDP and the APC but INEC said the 19 political parties that fielded candidates during the last general elections in 2019 will participate in the Saturday exercise.
APC And Igini’s Question
Mike Igini, the Resident Electoral Cfficer (REC) for Akwa Ibom State, despite being accused of prejudices by the APC against the party, continues to preside over the INEC Akwa Ibom State. He had declared all candidates of the PDP winner in the 2019 general elections in the state.
Besides Senator Godswill Akpabio, who is very unequivocal on the removal of Mike Igini as Akwa Ibom REC having accused him of having soft spot for the PDP, there are other voices in the APC that are very loud and vehement on Igini’s removal. In December 2019, the Aspirants Forum of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Akwa Ibom State Chapter, while addressing a press conference in Uyo, through their state coordinator of the forum, Dr. Chris Enoch, expressed lack of confidence in Barr. Igini declaring that the REC must not conduct rerun election in Akwa Ibom State, linking him to unprofessional conducts and heavy bias against the APC before, during, and after the 2019 general elections.
Dr. Enoch said Igini’s post-election utterances clearly demonstrated his dislike for the APC as a party, noting how the Akwa Ibom REC lampooned the aggrieved candidates of the party for complaining just to seek recognition for possible appointment from the president, adding that the forum feels “it was unbecoming of an electoral umpire who is expected at all times to register a high integrity score.”
He therefore called on the headquarters of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, in Abuja, to redeploy Mr. Mike Igini or possibly sack him and his ilk in the commission and then post a new and impartial REC as well as principal staff to the state as this would inspire confidence in the electorates expecting the conduct of a free, fair, credible and acceptable rerun elections.
The state coordinator of APC Aspirants forum had further called on Senator Godswill Akpabio to sue the INEC for accusing him on sponsoring thuggery in Essien Udim even after the appeal court ruling went in favour of Akpabio.
He said no sane institution will allow Barr. Igini and his top officials at the Akwa Ibom State INEC to conduct further elections in the state, particularly, if any APC candidate is involved in the contest.
“It is no news that on the heels of the Appeal Court judgment on the case of Senator Godswill Akpabio, the candidate of the APC in the 2019 election for the Akwa Ibom North West senatorial district against the judgment of the tribunal in which Senator Akpabio got a favourable ruling, the spokesperson of INEC Akwa Ibom State as directed by Igini, issued a press statement in which Akpabio was vilified and frontally accused of having sponsored thuggery during the election, a claim INEC has not and cannot substantiate.
“Such a wild accusation smacks of a devilish agenda to poison the minds of the electorates against Akpabio in his local government, Essien Udim, in which the rerun has been ordered by the appellate court and which is very strategic to Akpabio’s victory in the election and his final emergence as the Senator for the senatorial district.
“INEC’s strategy in that press release is simply pre-emptive and to spoil things for Akpabio. This is too glaring even to escape the notice of the least discerning mind. We are calling on Senator Akpabio and APC to sue INEC for such malicious campaign and demagogue. This further buttresses the belief that INEC in the state holds Senator Akpabio in disdain and opprobrium. It is also a glaring prelude for a biased conduct of the rerun election in favour of Akpabio’s opponent. No sane institution will allow Barr. Igini and his top echelon of officials at the Akwa Ibom State INEC to conduct further elections in the state, particularly, if any APC candidate is involved in the contest,” the statement reads.
Speaking during the interactive session with the journalists, Dr. Emaeyak Ukpong, the forum’s political advisor, said the call for Igini’s removal is not all about the election involving Senator Godswill Akpabio but also about the future elections, especially, as the national assembly has directed INEC to take over the conduct of local government elections.
Despite the persistent calls for Igini’s removal, the national headquarters of INEC has not redeployed the present REC from Akwa Ibom State. It therefore remained a matter of concern on how the APC would accept the outcome of the Saturday’s polls.
In fact there is a media comment that alleges that INEC's Head of Operations in 2019, Mr. Okereke, who is now retired, has been recalled and posted to Akwa Ibom State to work against the APC. It also has it that Mike Igini has brought in his blood relation who was serving as an Electoral Officer in Anambra state to execute his planned rigging of elections in Essien Udim Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State. Igini’s new Electoral Officer for the rerun on Saturday, 25th January 2020 is Mr. Vincent Ogene, according to the report.
Igini’s Confidence Ahead Of Rerun
Igini, in a statement, has urged officials that will be partaking in the conduct of the court-ordered rerun elections in Essien Udim local government area, to remain faithful to the ethos of free, fair and credible elections by ensuring that not an inch of the process is allowed to be compromised.
The REC commended the staff, particularly those who served in Essien Udim during the last general elections, for working to uphold the integrity of the process in spite of the challenges they had to confront, adding that “their steadfastness and loyalty to the ideals of the Commission had helped to distinguish Akwa Ibom as one of the best State Offices in the country.”
He expressed confidence in the professionalism of the staff and enjoined them to remain resolute and committed to the values of the Commission during the rerun elections slated for the 25th of January, 2020.
©The Sensor Newspaper
Comments
Post a Comment