BY Pelumi Bolawa
Umana Okon Umana, minister of Niger Delta affairs, says his loyalty to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) is not in doubt, dismissing the anti-party allegation leveled against him.
In a statement which Iboro Otongaran, his media aide, issued on his behalf, the minister said the national leadership of his party has acknowledged his loyalty, commitment and contributions to the APC.
Umana added that the governorship candidate of the APC in Akwa Ibom, Akan Udofia, “knows the level of my support for him and the party, and has equally appreciated my contributions.”
The minister was responding to claims that he was working against the interest of the APC in the state.
Umana said all such claims were rubbish and should be dismissed by all reasonable people.
Umana equally dismissed as a blatant lie, the allegation that he pocketed funds released for the political campaigns of the party, and explained that presidential campaign funds are traditionally routed through the governorship candidate of the party in the state and the state party chairman.
He said given that tradition no campaign funds could have been released to him and that none was released to him.
On the allegation that he was supporting the candidate of the PDP because the man is from the same area with the minister, Umana said the allegation was based on ignorance since the governorship candidates of both the APC and the PDP are all sons of Nsit like the minister.
The minister described as both laughable and childish, the claim that the PDP governorship candidate is his cousin, and recalled that one of the pay-for-play writers had in another recent smear campaign alleged that the state governor was also a cousin to the Minister.
“Every governor or governorship candidate in the state is my cousin,” Umana said derisively.
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