February 20, (THEWILL) – Ahead of the Presidential and National Assembly elections slated for February 25, the coast seems clear for three major Ikot Ekpene Senatorial District seat contenders in the Ikot Ekpene Senatorial District seat, at the Red Chamber of the National Assembly.
The race, which has pitted the former Minister of Niger Delta Affairs and the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate, Godswill Akpabio and the former National Legal Adviser to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Emmanuel Enoidem, against the leading contender and the Young Progressives Party (YPP) flag-bearer, Rt. Hon. Emmanuel Ekon, according to political onlookers, will pull surprises, going by the flurry of endorsements for Ekon and equity in power rotation in the district.
From the camp of Akpabio, fillers are that the former Senator is currently pondering withdrawal from the race, going by the resolution of the Elders, leaders and stakeholders of the zone, who have unanimously agreed on equity in the zoning process in favour of the Abak Federal Constituency, popularly called Abak – 3, comprising Abak, Etim Ekpo and Ika Local Government Areas.
Checks by our Correspondent revealed no fewer than 10 Local Government Areas were carved into four of the Federal Constituencies of Abak, Ikono/Ini, Ikot Ekpene and Ukanwosu/Oruk Anam, across all four Federal Constituencies, only Abak Federal Constituency never had any opportunity since 1960 to occupy the Senatorial slot, but others like Ukanafun/Oruk Anam had it with Senator Itak Ekarika and Chief Senas Ukpanah.
Senator Akpabio had it for Ikot Ekpene in 2015 and left it for his kinsman, Senator Chris Ekpenyong, who is about to serve out his tenure in May this year.
“Before now, Senator Aloysius Etok had taken the slot for eight years for Ikono/Ini, leaving only the Abak Federal Constituency to wallow in a grave state of deprivation and wanton lack of physical development and human capital developments for all these years.” Angry youths and students of Annang extraction lamented during a weekend protest march in Ikot Ekpene.
Comrade Akwaowo Akpan’, a student activist, who led the agitations for the evolution of the slot in the Abak Federal Constituency “for equity, peace and unity of the Senatorial District”, told the electorates ahead of the polls.
“Be ready with your Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) because we are looking for a younger and experienced candidate from Abak Federal Constituency to lead us because we know that the older ones can only think of the next election and not the next generation”, he stressed.
At the extraordinary and emergency General meeting, the youths under the aegis of Future Leaders Forum of Ikot Ekpene Senatorial District (FLFIKSD), rising from the crucial meeting at Four Points by Sheraton Hotel, Ikot Ekpene, the political capital of Annang nation.
Chaired by the President-General, Comrade Aniekan Udo Mbre, the forum endorsed the shift in the slot to Ikot Ekpene, describing Akpabio as a “Meddlesome interloper, trying to usurp and alter the popular wishes of the people of Akwa Ibom North-West.”
The forum, which drew participants across the zone, however, charged the electorates not to be carried away by the sentiment of voting for a political party, but by individuals, pointing out that Ekon’s antecedents as a former Natural Assembly member for years at the Green Chamber, where provided effective representation in the zone, recommends him for the mission to the Red Chamber.
“Ekon represents the best choice because Akpabio is already out of the picture due to the fact that zoning is not in his favour. Ekon, for eight years at the Green Chamber, has touched so many lives and provided social infrastructure in education, scholarships, skill training in the oil and gas industry, the building of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) across schools and Local Government Areas of the state”, Mbre recalled.
Describing Enoidem as a total greenhorn, the group in a communiqué pointed out that “it’s not the time for someone who has never contested any elections before to be sent to such a hallowed chamber like the Senate to be swallowed up by experienced and seasoned lawmakers, who are more conversant and grounded in the politics of the national legislature.”
In the same vein, lecturers under the auspices of the National Association of Annang Lecturers in Tertiary Institutions (NAALTIN), called for a united action to enthrone a leader with a patriotic drive towards liberating the zone from years of marginalisation.
After a crucial meeting in Uyo, the state capital, the President of the group, Prof. Stanley Akpan’, charged eligible voters to shun the allures of money and ensured their votes count for Ekon and YPP, at the polls.
He said: “Rt Hon. Ekon, is a great and better candidate than the others including Akpabio and Enoidem, because the former House of Representatives member for Abak Federal Constituency, had the experience and records of effective representation. He was the Chairman of the Local Content Committee, and for four years we saw empowerment, jobs and skill acquisition for youths and infrastructural development”, he noted.
In a swift reaction to this, the media aid to former minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Senator Godswill Akpabio, Mr Jackson Udom, dismissed the rumours making the rounds that his boss is contemplating a withdrawal from the May 25 race, disclosing that some candidates of lesser political parties are ready to collapse their structures for Akpabio.
Describing the former governor as the candidate to beat in the forthcoming election, Udom said such rumours are borne out of fear and should be discarded.
