Royal fathers in Akwa Ibom State have thrown their weight behind the re-election bid of Governor Udom Emmanuel saying it would ensure justice and fairness since according to them; his predecessors had served for two terms while in office.
After an extraordinary meeting in Uyo, the state capital and attended by all the paramount rulers from the 31 local government areas of the state, the traditional rulers also reaffirmed their belief on the rotational principle in the political governance of the state which allows for the election of a governor from each of the three senatorial districts of the state at a given time.
In a communiqué endorsed by Ntong Udo Effiong Akpan, chairman of the state council of chiefs and paramount ruler of Ini local government area Solomon Daniel Etuk, paramount ruler of Nsit Ubium and Oku Ibom Ibibio and Udo Joe Ntuk Obom, the paramount ruler of Ikot Abasi local government area, the royal fathers stated that “ politics or personal ambition should not be taken to the extreme or allowed to distort the well-established unity accord in Akwa Ibom State.”
The royal fathers also urged the Independent Electoral Commission (INEC), to ensure free, fair, credible, transparent and acceptable elections and also advised the Police, Army and other security agencies to ensure impartiality in their security support and coverage of the elections.
The meeting which was presided over by Ntong Udo Effiong Akpan who is the chairman of the state council of chiefs urged the people to maintain peace and order and directed all traditional rulers to take the message of peace as proclaimed by the conclave to their clans, villages, hamlets and domains.
“The council affirmed that since Akwa Ibom North East and Akwa Ibom North West Senatorial Districts had taken their turns respectively to produce Governors of Akwa Ibom State from 1999-2007 and 2007 – 2015, with each of the occupants having eight (8) years of two tenures each, same principle should apply to the current incumbent who is from Akwa Ibom South Senatorial District while it called on the people to go “out en-mass to participate in the Gubernatorial and State House of Assembly Elections on Saturday, March 09, 2019.”
Meanwhile, civil society groups in the state have condemned calls for the redeployment of Mike Igini, the Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) in the state urging the federal government to resist the temptation of being hoodwinked by those “who do not mean well for democracy while taking decisions that would portray Nigeria in bad light”
In a statement signed by Harry Udoh and Nsekpong Udoh, chairman and secretary respectively, the group noted that the deployment of Igini to Akwa Ibom State in their estimation was the best thing to have happened to Akwa Ibom State adding that it has always been their belief that no election can be rigged anywhere without the tacit connivance of the electoral umpire in the state.
“The call for the redeployment can only be the wish of the nefarious politicians who do not mean well for Akwa Ibom State seeking to truncate the aspirations of the majority of Akwa Ibom people,’’ the statement said.
