By Emeka Samuel, Uyo
The APC in Akwa Ibom has denied allegations of plans to impeach Governor Udom Emmanuel by its lawmakers who sat last Tuesday.
They have also blamed the PDP for the current crisis in the state assembly accusing Emmanuel of overbearing influence on members of the state assembly.
State chairman of the party Mr Ini Okopido told a press conference in Uyo that the party had no intention to impeach Emmanuel because they know he would leave office after the elections next March.
Okopido said that recent actions by the party was in reaction to the lawlessness exhibited by the Governor and the PDP in the state.
“Let me state categorically that we in APC have never discussed plans to impeach the governor, and indeed, we are not interested in moving for his impeachment. Rather, we are eagerly waiting for Saturday, 2nd March 2019, when Akwa Ibom people will vote out this incompetent governor. We have just three months to go, so there is no need to waste time on impeachment.
“The Governor, in connivance with Hon. Onofiok Luke, the former Speaker. The illegality of declaring the seats of five APC members of the House vacant, despite subsisting court actions, was the immediate cause of this crisis.” He said.
The chairman said that the governor instigated the crisis to take attention away, and divert public discourse from the fact he has achieved very little or nothing in the last three and a half years and accused him of misusing women and youths in the state.
“Even our former governor, Arc (Obong) Victor Attah, said this very succinctly in his latest book titled ‘It is well with my soul’. In the book, Obong Attah stated that he has not seen any visible mark of achievement recorded by Udom Emmanuel. This was widely reported on the day of the book launch and in the days after.
” So it is clear to us that as election is just three months away, our governor is desperate to take our attention away from, and divert public discourse, from his poor performance, by orchestrating a political crisis in the stat. How clever! But Akwa Ibom people are too smart to be deceived. They know that this is the only governor in the state that would leave office without a legacy- an important structure that could be named after him.
“Distinguished ladies and gentlemen, yesterday, we noticed that the Commissioner for Women Affairs was asked by the governor to mobilize PDP women onto the streets to protest. They wore T-Shirts with Divine Mandate, the name of Udom Emmanuel Campaign Oganisation, boldly written on them. They were on the streets dancing, in the name of protests. They were PDP Women. The ordinary Akwa Ibom women are too busy working hard in the farms, markets and in their businesses, and so they cannot be misled by this clueless Governor.
“But we should be quick to note that whenever this governor gets himself into self-inflicted crisis, he runs to women and uses them as ‘human shield’. What has he done for Akwa Ibom women in the last three and half years? And he does the same thing to our youths and students. He calls the youths and students to the streets ever so often. Has this governor ever paid scholarships and bursaries to students? No. Has he created jobs for our youths? No. Has he built any new primary or secondary school blocks to decongest some of our schools? Has he renovated these schools? No.
“Has he refurbished and cleaned up Urua Akpan Andem, the biggest market in our State where our women ply their trade? Is this market not one of the dirtiest markets in the country? Has he paid primary school pensioners? Have our primary school teachers not abandoned the classroom, and taken to riding keke and mini buses? Why is the governor always quick to use our children and women as ‘human shields’, put them on highways to protest and risk their lives? Whose children are these? Where are his own children?” He queried.
The chairman also expressed confidence in the professionalism of the newly posted commissioner of police in the state.
“We in APC in Akwa Ibom have absolute confidence in the new Commissioner of Police who was posted to the State only a few days ago. We have not seen any form of partisanship in what the CP has done. We rather believe that the CP is a consummate professional, and so we trust that the CP will perform his duties creditably no matter the inducement and intimidation from Udom Emmanuel and his PDP.
“If indeed the governor and his party have been in the business of influencing CP postings before now, they should stop it and concentrate on delivering good governance, which they have however failed to do. The era of impunity is over.” He stated.
