, . , . () , , , , , , , , . / , and/or . , , and/or , and/or
Akwa Ibom State Resident Electoral Commissioner, Mr. Mike Igini, yesterday, restated the status of political party primaries monitored in the state, insisting that Senator Godswill Akpabio has not been recognised as the candidate of the All Progressives Congress, APC, for the North West senatorial district.
Igini also insisted that Mr. Udom Ekpoudom had the highest votes and was declared winner as the APC candidate for the senatorial district.
The REC, whose five-year term is about to expire, stated: “In the last few days, I have been inundated with calls and questions, mostly from members and contestants of various elective primaries of the APC, making enquiries and wanting to know exactly the position with respect to the APC primaries in Akwa Ibom State. This is despite the fact that many aggrieved individuals who participated in political party primaries had gone to court to seek redress.
“The inquiries related to senatorial, federal, governor, and state House of Assembly candidacies in Akwa Ibom State in the lead-up to the 2023 general election.
“Since my five-year term is coming to a conclusion, I feel compelled to once again state for the records the status of party primaries supervised in Akwa Ibom State and do as follows:
In Akwa Ibom State, all political parties that held party primaries in accordance with Section 84(i) of the 2022 Electoral Act were generally observed by the various teams assembled for the event, and reports of the results were endorsed and delivered to the commission’s headquarters in Abuja.
But not every political party held primaries for every elected office. Between June 3 and 4, 2022, the commission set the dates and times for all party primaries.
“The APC did not hold its governorship party primary in Akwa Ibom State as planned, which was to take place at the SheerGrace Arena, 8/10 Nsikak Eduok Avenue, Uyo, on May 26, 2022.
“The APC gave proper notice of its May 26, 2022, nationwide governorship primaries. The five-person roster of the APC Electoral Committee designated to oversee the governorship primary was delivered from INEC headquarters to the Akwa Ibom State INEC office. Mr. Tunde Ajibulu served as the team’s chairman.
“INEC, Akwa Ibom State, organized five-person monitoring teams for each of the three senatorial districts, and they all oversaw the primaries as planned for the three districts on May 27, 2022.
According to vanguard,the five-person INEC monitoring team for the Akwa Ibom North West senatorial district dutifully observed the primary at the designated site and submitted its report, which made it abundantly clear that Mr. Udom Ekpoudom had received the most votes (of 338) and was declared the victor as the APC candidate for that senatorial district.
“Dr. Ndem Ndem won the primary in the Akwa Ibom North-East senatorial district, but no one was chosen in the Akwa Ibom South senatorial district because the party in that district did not hold the primary there.
“It becomes very odd and really unsettling that information on individuals whose names were completely different from those that resulted from the orderly, transparent, and officially supervised primaries here in Akwa Ibom State was not submitted for publication. While Mr. Ekpoudom’s name was entirely removed, an unidentified name appeared for the Akwa Ibom South senatorial district, where there was no primary.
Content created and supplied by: Babantoka (via Opera
News )
