Governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the April 11 election, Mr. Umana Umana, has reiterated that all the violence and electoral malpractices during the general elections in Akwa Ibom State were perpetrated by a private army, as organised by Governor Godswill Akpabio and the ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP).

Umana said this when he led a delegation of the APC caucus in the state to meet with the President-elect, Mr. Muhammadu Buhari in Abuja on Wednesday. The delegation also included a former governor of the state, Mr. Victor Attah, former deputy governor, Mr. Nsima Ekere, former Minister of Petroleum, Mr. Don Etiebet, a serving senator, Mr. Ita Enang, Mr. Dan Akpan of the House of Representatives and other chieftains of the party.


Governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the April 11 election, Mr. Umana Umana, has reiterated that all the violence and electoral malpractices during the general elections in Akwa Ibom State were perpetrated by a private army, as organised by Governor Godswill Akpabio and the ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP).

Umana said this when he led a delegation of the APC caucus in the state to meet with the President-elect, Mr. Muhammadu Buhari in Abuja on Wednesday. The delegation also included a former governor of the state, Mr. Victor Attah, former deputy governor, Mr. Nsima Ekere, former Minister of Petroleum, Mr. Don Etiebet, a serving senator, Mr. Ita Enang, Mr. Dan Akpan of the House of Representatives and other chieftains of the party.



Regretting that the last elections in the state were marred by irregularities, a situation which, he said, led to loss of lives and large-scale harassment of residents of the state, Umana also told Buhari that when his supporters got wind of the formation of a private army many months before the elections, an alarm was raised and petitioned sent to the appropriate authorities, but no action was taken “dismantle the machine of death and destruction put in place by the state governor”.

According to Umana, officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) connived with the state government, security agents and the Peoples Democratic Party(PDP) to rob APC of victory in the presidential, governorship, National and state Assembly polls.

Umana said: “The people had hoped that there would be free and fair elections in Akwa Ibom State for them to vote and bring in APC government at both the state and federal levels, so that the lot of the people of the state would change for the better.

“However, it is a matter for regret and a point of great frustration that our votes for you in Akwa Ibom State were not allowed to count during the Presidential Election because of massive vote fraud and wanton violence.

“Your Excellency, we would like to report that the gubernatorial and House of Assembly elections held in the state on April 11 2015 witnessed even worse degrees of electoral fraud and violence, leading to many deaths and injuries.

Responding, Buhari urged Umana to challenge the alleged rigging of the election at the tribunal.

Buhari, however, admonished Umana to follow due process and stay away from unconstitutional acts in the pursuit of his case.

Insisting that the truth could not be covered, Buhari said his government would focus on fighting corruption, generation of employment and restoration of security in the country.

Buhari said, ” l am glad that you have gone to court too because you believe in the system as the right place to fight for your right and the right of the people you represent.

“I have appealed three times and arrived at the Supreme Court not because I believe the system had changed, but this time around, in your own case, you were still denied even with the use of Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) and the card readers, that means they will never stop lies because the essence of the system itself is to protect the interests of the parties, the candidates, whether it is the local government elections, House of Assembly, governorship, House of Representatives, Senate etc, there is need to go to the constituency, educate them, beg for their support and understanding.

“Let them know the real essence according to law to choose who they want to choose otherwise we are wasting our time. I stand for that. So, the point I want to make here is that the problem of Nigeria is not ethnic or religious, it is corruption.

“This is what we are fighting, that is why corruption is number three in my campaign. The first one is security, the North-East, the Delta area where people are kidnapped and ransom are being demanded, which people cannot afford. The second one is unemployment; 60 per cent of Nigerians are youths, most of them, whether they went to school or not, are unemployed and that is dangerous.

“So, we have to get the issue of the economy right to make sure the jobs are made available and we should try to kill corruption before corruption kills Nigeria. Let us practise what we preach as well. Who ever wins as a governor too has a lot of work to do, because corruption is fast becoming a culture.”

He cautioned against engaging in acts that would lead to loss of lives, promising to always stand with the people irrespective of their tribes.

http://propellerng.com/akpabio-pdp-used-private-army-to-steal-votes-umana-alerts-buhari/

pk

The courts will deal with them

Noted

Cry cry babies. If they have won they would've call it free and fair election. Now that they lost thry will not let us hear Word.

Free n fair or rigged pdp would have still won.

#Beside umana thugs stole ballot papers 2, I witnessed it.

Lol. They are reporting to their daddy...bunch of cry babies.

One thing I like and respect about GMB is d fact dat the man choses his words carefully, and dats a leader.
We all knw PDP did dere thing in Akwa Ibon but I see Akpabio jumping ships soon.

Let's see where dis is headed. Does Buhari look like d judge of a tribunal? Good response frm GMB
Responding, Buhari urged Umana to challenge the alleged rigging of the election at the tribunal.
Pls how many pdp governorship aspirants dat lost ve gone to court to complain? Esp in d north? This is democracy mehn. U can't ve it all. Wait for 2019 when u will ve even more opposition party candidates winning elections.