Deputy Governor of Akwa Ibom State,
Mr Nsima Ekere has resigned from
office to take off steam from the
impeachment which was planned
against him. A terse press release
signed by Ekere’s press secretary, Mr
Inemesit Ina entitled ‘Akwa Ibom
Deputy Governor resigns’ reads: “The
deputy Governor of Akwa Ibom State,
Mr Nsima Ekere has resigned from
office.” In a letter of resignation dated
Wednesday, October 31, 2012, Mr
Ekere said he was resigning on
personal grounds.
He thanked the governor and the good people of the state for the opportunity given him to serve the state in the last 17 months. “Mr Ekere wished the governor and the people well in the remaining years of the administration.”
Daily Sun learnt that plans had already been concluded for Ekere to be impeached next week by the state
House of Assembly. His offence was
that he became too interested in
succeeding Governor Akpabio in 2015,whereas there were others assumed to have been anointed for the job.
An inside source said Ekere was
advised to resign to avoid being
subjected to Chris Ekpenyong’s
treatment whose process of
impeachment was started and
concluded within two days by the
House and the investigation panel set
up by the then State Chief Judge,
Justice Effiong Idiong. It took the
intervention of the Federal Executive
Council led by Chief Ojo Madueke, then a minister to prevail on the House and Chief Victor Attah to upturn the impeachment and give Ekpenyong a soft landing of resignation.
Ekere, who unsuccessfully contested
the crowded Peoples Democratic Party
(PDP) gubernatorial primaries against
Akpabio in 2007, was initially chosen
by Akpabio as his running mate. But he was later dropped by the party and replaced with Obong Patrick Ekpotu, who came in as a compromise
candidate to assuage the frosty
relationship between Attah and
Akpabio.
But it was obvious that Akpabio was
only tolerating Ekpotu, who happens to come from the same Ikot Abasi Local Government Area like Ekere; thus he was offloaded in Akpabio’s second term to finally make way for Ekere, an estate surveyor.
When contacted on phone, his
predecessor, Obong Ekpotu expressed surprise over Ekere’s resignation,describing it as “unfortunate somersault. Why should he resign, I thought he knew how well to be a deputy governor.” Asked what his relationship was with Ekere, Ekpotu said “I had no business with such people. I knew all that he did to
undermine me so that he would
become a deputy governor.”
When asked whether the governor had accepted Ekere’s resignation, the state Commissioner for Information, Mr. Aniekan Umanah told Daily Sun that he was not in Uyo but in Abuja as such was not in immediate contact with the governor. Umanah said he learnt of the resignation from the social media just like many other persons but promised to get more facts as soon as possible.
The Chairman of the House Assembly
Committee on Information, Mr Effefiong Antigha and the Speaker, Mr Sam Ikon were not available on phone to comment on the angle of the planned impeachment against Ekere.
LINK:
www.sunnewsonline.com/new/cover/aibom-dep-gov-resigns-to-avoid-impeachment/