Director General of Senator Bassey Akpan Campaign Organisation, Pastor Sunny Ibuot, has said that the guber aspirant who was due to meet with delegates and stakeholders of Nsit Ubium local government on Friday has been denied access.
This is against the norm and express declaration of the state Chairman of PDP, Hon Aniekan Akpan, that all aspirants should and would be given equal treatment.
According to a statement in Uyo on Friday, “this morning, March 25, 2022, our Principal, Senator Bassey Albert Akpan (OBA), and his campaign team were due to pay a consultative visit to the Oku Ibom Ibibio, the delegates and party structure in Nsit Ubium Local Government Area. All necessary arrangements had been made days ago.
“But to our shock and dismay, the Chapter Chairman of Nsit Ubium, Chapter chairman of Nsit Ubium, Edet Inyang Eno, informed us this morning that he had been instructed not to receive Sen OBA and his entourage in Nsit Ubium . This is completely against the tenets of democracy, good conscience and peaceful co-existence.
“The question is: what has Sen OBA really done wrong to be so persecuted, maligned, disparaged and discriminated against? When did it become a crime for a freeborn – a man who has always stood for peace and equity; a man who stood by others in their moments of despair – to aspire to lead his people?”
The statement noted that Akpan had openly pleaded with his kinsmen, stakeholders and party structure in Ibiono ibom his home local government, to open their doors wide and receive every aspirant with open arms.
He reportedly “told them clearly, and still does, that politics is a friendly game that should not generate unnecessary acrimony, hatred, blackmail, mudslinging, disunity and discrimination. Rather, it should be a game that allows all the aspirants access to the people, to afford open scrutiny based on issues and devoid of primordial sentiments.”
It said that following OBA’s advice, some aspirants have so far been well received by the people of Ibiono ibom and have been given the opportunity to market themselves and their programmes.
“It should be recalled that the State Chairman of PDP has repeatedly instructed all party formations across the state to give all the aspirants equal access to the delegates and stakeholders. How do you arrive at the best if you don’t evaluate from the lot.
“Therefore, it goes against good conscience, expectation and dictate of democracy for Nsit Ubium party exco and stakeholders to discriminate and openly treat a loyal cum committed party-man, who has contributed immensely to the stability of the party, with ignominy.
“If OBA’s offence is his insistence that 2023 must be a year of jubilee for Akwa Ibom people, he has no apology. In fact,
Senator Bassey Albert Akpan emphatically reiterates that in 2023, through him, the youths must be liberated from hunger and poverty, which have now become a weapon of subjugation. He insists that our women must be free from economic strangulation. He insists that the elderly must be returned to their place of honour. He is on a movement to actualise a new but positive vision for Akwa Ibom State and no gate of hell shall prevail against that.” It said.
