Akwa Ibom PDP tackles APC over attack on Udom, traditional rulers

The Akwa Ibom state chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has described as deceptive and insulting, the allegation by the All Progressives Congress (APC) that the paramount rulers in the state did not act within the realms of neutrality in issuing a statement asking for cessation of media hostilities over the outcome of the 2019 general election.

In a statement, Ini Ememobong, publicity secretary of the PDP, said that the APC recent publication was targeted at belittling the revered traditional rulers for demanding a cessation of what he described as virulent media attacks on the governor.

The party said the admonition by the traditional rulers was made in good faith and aimed at giving caution to the APC and their leaders from further sponsoring media campaigns against the governor.

“The APC through their leadership has accused almost anybody and anything within sight as being instrumental to their electoral loss. These allegations, when heard, tend to reduce the intellectual standing of the average Akwa Ibom citizen in the estimation of rational people,” he said.

“We apologize to our revered royal fathers for the unmerited insults hurled at them by people who strenuously tried to gain their support through financial inducements, devilish political horse trading and threats.

“Having played God and lost favour with men, they are irredeemably pained and have found comfort in spewing shameless lies and exhibiting irreverent behaviour. The Akwa Ibom public is well aware of their atrocious disposition and can therefore not take them seriously.”

Reed full statement below:

The All Progressives Congress, Akwa Ibom State has in their characteristic tradition made lying and deception their nicene creed and clothed themselves with insolence as a fitting mandarin jacket. In a recent publication, the broom carrying movement shamelessly deprecated our revered traditional rulers for demanding a cessation of virulent media attacks on the Governor. The admonition by the traditional fathers was made in utmost good faith, to caution the APC and their shameless leaders from further sponsoring media campaigns against the Governor. The statement was not to dissuade them from continuing in their potentially fruitless legal circumambulation, but to caution against baseless, unsubstantiated and very shameless accusations against the Governor, INEC, Religious Leaders etc. The APC through their leadership has accused almost anybody and anything within sight as being instrumental to their electoral loss. These allegations, when heard, tend to reduce the intellectual standing of the average Akwa Ibom citizen in the estimation of rational people. In fact the leadership of the APC in the state and their candidates had since become examples of disgraceful political misadventure.

The release alleged that the Paramount Rulers did not act within the realms of neutrality in issuing a statement asking for cessation of media hostilities. The APC forgot that while on their campaign, they had conscripted some village and clan heads into their campaign trail. They have forgotten that they jubilantly posted videos and news of some paramount rulers who openly endorsed their candidates. By their action they have reinforced our speculation that the APC leadership in the state is suffering from chronic selective amnesia.

The APC, in and out of the tribunal has been the synonym of confusion, befuddlement and stupefaction. They have adopted doublespeak, flip flop and scenario creation as a strategy, but unfortunately, available results show that it has been a bad strategy. The world must be having a huge laughter with the succumbing submission made by their ‘walking stick’ Governorship candidate, who earlier, alongside the National Comedian, boasted to the world that their party won 26 Local Government Areas during the Governorship elections and that they were heading to the tribunal to ‘reclaim’ their mandate. However, when he and his party arrived the tribunal and discovered that the only mandate they had was an agreement to use armed thugs to rig elections while killing and maiming innocent citizens, they abandoned their ‘tales by moonlight’ victory claim and took up the defeatist exclamation that “elections did not hold”. While we sympathize with him and his ilk, we wish to remind them that King Solomon when faced with a similar situation where two women were laying claim to a living child, had laid the locus classicus for future determination of such cases. Akwa Ibom people know the truth and we are hopeful that the Tribunal and all other courts in the land will apply the extant Law to the facts presented and confirm the overwhelming victory of Governor Udom Emmanuel and other PDP candidates in the 2019 elections.

We apologize to our revered royal fathers for the unmerited insults hurled at them by people who strenuously tried to gain their support through financial inducements, devilish political horse trading and threats. Having played God and lost favour with men, they are irredeemably pained and have found comfort in spewing shameless lies and exhibiting irreverent behaviour. The Akwa Ibom public is well aware of their atrocious disposition and can therefore not take them seriously.

Our traditional rulers as custodians of our customs, values and traditions must be respected and they have a right to intervene when situations arise that can bring disrepute to our corporate identity and threaten our peaceful existence.