Akwa Ibom State Governor Godswill Akpabio has confessed to manipulating the result of a 2007 Peoples Democratic Party senatorial primary election in the state by single-handedly replacing the winner with the name of his preferred candidate.
Akpabio, who is also the PDP Governors Forum chairman, made the confession when a delegation of the National Good Governance Tour visited the state on March 9.
The tour, which was recorded with a video camera, was led by the Minister of Information, Mr. Labaran Maku. The video which went viral on the Internet.
The governor made the confession while defending his claim of being fair to the people of Ini and Ikono.
He was responding to a question that he had not impacted the lives of the people of the two communities, especially in the area of roads, schools and other public infrastructure.
The communities form part of Ikot Ekpene Senatorial District. Akpabio said he struck out the name of the person who won the PDP primary election and replaced it with Aloysius Etuk.
Etuk went ahead to win the senatorial election. He remains a serving senator having won a reelection in 2011.
The governor said, “The people of Ikono and Ini (Local Government Areas) from 1960 have never produced a Senator.
“I used my own hand to strike out the name of the person who has won before, and I said it is important for me to give that region a Senator in 2007, and I produced Senator Aloysius Etuk for you; that’s where he comes from.”
Etuk, who was in attendance at the town hall meeting, confirmed the claim when Akpabio asked him to stand up and “take a bow”.
The governor’s confession shocked many in attendance.
The governor, who was later hinted of the implication of his claim then sought to further clarify it.
He said, “So, I must say that I thank all of you, including the members of the National Assembly led by Senator Aloysius Etok. And when I said that I made Aloy(sius Etok) to become a senator in 2007, I need to explain it so that you don’t think that I wrote his name and he became a senator.
“During the primaries of the PDP, we zoned the Senate seat to his federal constituency. And from the federal constituency, he came first in the primaries. That happened in the PDP. So we said since he was the first among the people who came from his federal constituency for the primaries, then he must be the one to become the senator.”
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ReplyDeleteits premiumtimesng.com not premiumtimes.com
ReplyDeleteThis occurs in every party all over Nigeria. That's the biggest challenge facing our politics. Its unfortunate that Godswill is boasting about it but its something we all know
ReplyDeleteIm not suprise that a confession was made by Governor Akpabio of how he crossed out the name of someone that won election and replace it with Senator ALLOYSIUS ETOK.
ReplyDeleteThis is quite find.He has the calling of defrauding the people and the electoral process.
Presently,he has a case in Appeal court with the same anology for forging election results.He has been in court since 2011 for forging the signature of the former PDP chairman Dr Nwodo on Akwa Ibom Governoship nomination result sheet.
That is Nwodo had ceased to be the chairman of PDP before the Governorship rerun nomination of 2011 in Akwa Ibom state ,but his signature was forged by the same Akpabio on the nomination sheet to claim that he was the candidate.
And he has been in office since 2011 with this illegality and the President is saying this is my beloved son in whom iam well pleased.
The judiciary is playing games with this case because they too are very corrupt.
So what Akpabio confessed and boasted is a specialised artistry.
It is a big shame to our nation and democracy .
Let it also be known to Nigerians that Akpabio has a Governorship nomination result sheet with Dr Nwodo,s forged signature after he ceased to be the Chairman of PDP before the rerun primary in Akwa Ibom state and the judiciary are playing games with this case that has moved to Appeal court over 2 years of commencement beacause they are dragging thier foot for judgement.This is an acid test for the judiciary in thier quest for credibility and trust from Nigerians.
ReplyDelete