Chris Ekong, a governorship aspirant on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Akwa Ibom State, Chris Ekong has given reasons why he accepted the result in the primaries in which Akan Udofia emerged the winner.
Ekong, a professor of Economics at the University of Uyo told reporters in Uyo, the Akwa Ibom State capital that he had initially wanted to protest the outcome but changed his mind after going through the party’s constitution and realized that Udofia had been granted a waiver by the party.
“I was initially convinced to join in the protestation against Akan Udofia’s late entry into our Party for the governorship race until I went studiously through the Constitution of our party and realized that in line with the powers of the APC as stipulated in Article 31(2) of the APC Constitution (as amended),
” Akan Udofia applied for and was duly granted a waiver to contest the governorship primary election of the APC, as conveyed by the National Working Committee of the APC (through the National Secretary), ” he said.
“Subject to the approval of the National Executive Committee, the National Working Committee may in special circumstances grant a waiver to a person not otherwise qualified under Article 31(1) of this Constitution if, in its opinion, such a waiver is in the best interest of the Party,” he said.
“Now that Akan Udofia has been declared winner of the APC governorship primaries” in Akwa Ibom State. I had since accepted the result as declared by the Party,,” he said
He called on members of the APC in the state including aspirants in the race to “sheathe their swords and open the doors for reconciliation and healing to support and work with the flag bearer, Obong Akan Udofia to win the governorship elections come 2023.”
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According to him, the clearest opportunity has opened to APC to win the elections in Akwa Ibom adding that “every obstacle on our road and quest to realize this must be avoided. We must accept the choice of the people and that of the party as a sacrosanct mandate that should be allowed to rule the day,” he said.
Answering a reporter’s question on how to accommodate the interest of the erstwhile general secretary of the party, John James Udoedehe, who has had taken the party to court but is reported to have withdrawn the case from court, he said the party is a family in which everybody will be accommodated.
According to him, all members of the party were on the same pedestal saying there are no founders and those who joined later were all integral members of the party.
Ekong, a former commissioner for youths and sports noted that APC in Akwa Ibom State had since 2015 suffered several bouts of self-inflicted loses at the polls.
He pointed out “the losses had derived from inflexibility of persons who had contested for the rights to the gubernatorial slot of the party with venom that makes them decide that they cannot at any point accept the choice of the party men and women except, when such decisions were taken exclusively in their particular favour.
The Party however has been very clear on how the decision and process to throw up candidates for elections is made.
All the aspirants that participated in the election process of the party had long known of these processes. It is always disappointing that the people that know the processes of the Party and have benefitted variously are the ones that create the most problems of the APC.
