22nd June, 2015
The All Progressives Congress governorship candidate in Akwa Ibom at the last general election, Umana Okon Umana has described former governor of the state, Godswill Akpabio as the author of rigging.
Umana who finished second to Peoples Democratic Party’s Emmanuel Udom Gabriel, polled 89,865 against Udom’s 996,071 and believes that the election was grossly rigged by Akpabio in tandem with the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and security agencies including the police, NSCDC and others.
Umana stated this in Lagos and urged all citizens of Akwa Ibom to fight for their votes by supporting him at the tribunal.
“The rigging template used in Rivers State for Nyesom Wike was manufactured in Akwa Ibom by Godswill Akpabio. He is the author,” Umana Umana said, adding that, “the number of accredited voters in Akwa Ibom for the governorship election were 437,128 but PDP’s Udom Emmanuel won by 996,071 votes.”
He noted that elections did not take place in Akwa Ibom and that APC agents could not sign the voters sheet because the results were written by PDP and INEC. “I wish to tell the world that election did not take place in Akwa Ibom on April 11. What we had was enthronement of the candidate imposed by ex-Governor Godswill Akpabio,” he said.
“Take Lagos for instance, results were announced as they were announced at the polling units. That way, the winner and the loser gradually knew what to expect at the end of the day.
“But in our case, people were intimidated. In cases where it looked like election would be conducted, security agencies fired tear gas claiming some persons were unruly.
Umana who is optimistic that the results of the election will be overturned said INEC was frustrating his team by denying them access to election materials. “To cover their tracks, INEC decided to pour all the election materials from the presidential and governorship election in one big Ghana Must Go bag in a bid to frustrate us.
He noted that he would have congratulated Udom Emmanuel if he had lost in a free and fair election.
Similarly, Nsima Ekere, former deputy governor of AKwa Ibom and a member of the PDP said he was calling for a change in Akwa Ibom because the state is in the hands of a cabal. “It is not about me or PDP but about Akwa Ibom. The state is bigger than me and we want to redeem it from a cabal led by Godswill Akpabio,” he said.
He added that: “The whole of Akwa Ibom is determined to make sure that democracy, true democracy exist.”