Akwa Ibom Govt. faults disjointed clip alleging rigged senatorial election

[FMINigeria]

                        The Government of Akwa Ibom State has decried attempts by mischief makers using the online media to distort recent comments made by the State Governor, Godswill Akpabio on the candidature for the 2007 Ikot Ekpene Senatorial District election. It insists that as a true Nigerian who was elected on popular mandate, Chief Akpabio has never, and would never engage in the rigging of election at any level.

Commissioner for Information and Communications, Mr. Aniekan Umanah, in a press statement, pointed out that in the complete version of the video of the National Good Governance Tour Citizens' Forum, broadcast live on national television, the Governor who made reference to the Ikot Ekpene Senatorial District issue, had further clarified what he meant and how the choice of Senator Alloysius Etok was arrived at.

It would be recalled that at the Citizens' Forum, Governor Akpabio stated that "The people of Ikono and Ini (Local Government Areas) from 1960 have never produced a Senator." The Commissioner for Information and Communications therefore said "Given that the Ini/Ikono, a minority part of the Senatorial District had never produced a Senator, the party (PDP) hierarchy, in the spirit of fairness and inclusiveness, supported the candidacy of Alloysius Etok".

The statement quoted the Governor's explanation in the video as follows: "When I said I made Alloy to become Senator in 2007, I need to explain, so that you don't think that I wrote his name and he became a senator, no. During the primaries of the PDP, we zoned the senate to his federal constituency, and from his federal constituency, he emerged first in the primaries. That was what happened in the PDP. So we said since he was the first among the list of people who came from his federal constituency for the primaries then he must be the one to become the senator. And after that we presented him before the public in the general election and he won. And in 2011, with my support, he had the highest vote in the entire country."

Umanah said "the leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party, which includes Governor Godswill Akpabio, presented Senator Alloysius Etok as the best candidate for the 2007 Ikot Ekpene Senatorial District election.

Mr. Umanah, who emphasized that Governor Akpabio was misunderstood in a video clip post on some websites and in the social media, enjoined all well-meaning individuals and groups to ignore the plots of mischief makers to malign the person and office of Governor Godswill Akpabio.

The Commissioner further advised the media to shun being used in what he described as a new wave of attack against the Governor.

He equally reassured that Governor Akpabio is a true democrat who will always support and promote efforts geared towards deepening Nigeria's fledgling democracy.



Via: Federal Ministry of Information (FMI) Nigeria