June 28, (THEWILL) – A former governor of Akwa Ibom, Obong Victor Attah, has described as farce, the certificate forgery allegation against the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) governorship candidate in the state, Pastor Umo Eno, saying that stakeholders are not moved by such.
Attah, who is the political leader of the state, stated in a press conference in Uyo on Tuesday, that the stakeholders did not make any mistake in their choice of Umo Eno as the next governor of the state.
According to him, elders of the state made findings about the integrity and qualifications of the PDP guber candidate before they took the decision to anoint him as successor to Governor Udom Emmanuel.
The former governor urged Akwa Ibom people to disregard such allegations against the guber candidate, as it was simply an attempt to create doubts in the minds of the electorate as the 2023 general elections approached.
According to him: “First I laughed, then I said maybe I shouldn’t laugh. I said I should try and verify this certificate thing. Didn’t you hear the same thing when Buhari was declared?
“Anytime somebody feels threatened and they cannot cope with the competition, they find a way to eliminate that competition.
“Sometimes not only for the purpose of eliminating that competition, but to plant doubts in peoples minds to start saying did we do the wrong thing?
“I asked, did this man fake his certificate? But I am satisfied because I looked and asked the right questions and I was satisfied with the answers I got.”
Speaking on why Umo Eno was picked, Attah said, “I have said, not just me, but a lot of stakeholders that what we saw was his sense of commitment, loyalty, his humility to know that he has to ask questions.”
He assured that Umo Eno would continue with the laudable projects initiated by past administrations and lead Akwa Ibom to higher heights.
“If you look at Lagos state; Lagos state has benefited largely from the fact that there is continuity. But what this state has suffered from is that in this state we pick a fight with the past.
“My science park was abandoned; my seaport was abandoned; my University of Science and Technology was abandoned; my power plant was abandoned and other things were abandoned. We started a new phase like Tropicana and several others.
“Umo Eno will not be like that. Umo Eno understands that these are building blocks to rise to the future. He will listen and go along with the past and will lead us where we can have the Akwa Ibom of our dream”, he concluded.
