10/12/19
PRESS RELEASE

WHY “ALMIGHTY” AKPABIO AND CO ARE SCARED OF IGINI

*PLOT TO ILLEGALLY REPLACE AKPABIO WITH ANOTHER CANDIDATE FOR RERUN UNCOVERED*

The MANDATE EYES wishes to react to recent campaigns of calumny launched by Senator Godswill Akpabio and his supporters in APC against the Resident Electoral Commissioner in Akwa Ibom, Barr. Mike Igini.

We are also aware that Senator Akpabio has gone to lnec Headquarters in Abuja to fraudulently substitute his name with that of a certain Obong Ekperikpe Ekpo ahead of the rerun of the AKWA IBOM North West (Ikot Ekpene) Senatorial District elections billed for Essien Udim local government area. This is irrespective of the fact that the gentleman neither picked a form nor was he nominated as a candidate of the APC for the February 23,2019 elections. INEC rejected his illegal proposal and offers.


The former Senator and his supporters, have in series of sponsored media attacks, threatened to boycott the forthcoming rerun election in Essien Udim local government area, except the Resident INEC Electoral Commissioner, Barr. Mike Igini is transferred from the state.

We are aware that the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC has fixed January 25, 2020 for elections in all parts of the country where there is a rerun. Parties concerned have gone back to campaign to seek for votes which is a normal thing to be done. Surprisingly in the case of Ikot-Ekpene Senatorial district in Akwa Ibom, Akpabio who claims to be on ground is rather going round with petitions that Igini should be removed, instead of going to campaign and we ask; in what basis is he asking for Igini's removal?

We are not surprised that Akpabio and his All Progressives Congress, APC have gone back to their normal propaganda and shadow chasing exercise. Recall that a chieftain of APC Chief Enefiok Ekefre had told the whole world that APC lost woefully in Akwa Ibom because it failed to carry out campaigns at the grassroots. He went on to say that his party claimed that it would rely on 'federal might' to capture the state. This, according to Ekefre, a seasoned political stalwart was practically impossible in a state that had been dominated by PDP since 1998.


We recall that in the buildup to the General Elections earlier this year, APC in Akwa Ibom State had campaigned for the removal of Mike Igini. They also masterminded the change in quick succession of at least 4 different Commissioners of Police in the state. It is also on record that the opposition party in the state had championed the introduction of the infamous Warsaw saw war message into the election; A message which Akpabio boasted severally would see him invade Akwa Ibom State in a violent manner akin to the invasion of Poland by Nazi tyrant Adolf Hitler, an invasion that saw over 30 million lives unaccounted till date.


We are aware that Mike Igini whose reputation as an umpire is devoid of sentiments and personal aggrandizement, had created a mark for himself in Edo State, Cross River State, lmo, Anambra and other parts of the country. *What really is the crime that Igini has committed and why is Akpabio and co so scared of him and his solid reputation acknowledged by Nigerians.


Few days before election, Igini was quoted as saying that “he came to Akwa Ibom to count votes and not to count money “and that politicians should desist from asking him to come for a meeting anywhere outside his office. So, who was he talking about? He further went on to say that he does not need to follow anybody to Dubai or any other location and so anyone who has anything to say should come to INEC headquarters at Udo Udoma Avenue in full glare of the media and camera. Who were the politicians that asked him to follow them to Dubai for a meeting.


Is it not a shame that in Akwa Ibom with 329 wards, 31 local government area's 10 federal constituencies, and 3 Senatorial districts, the only flash point where a rerun has been ordered by Appeal court because of what the court described as “pervasive hooliganism, unparalleled violence and abduction of poll officials” is in Essien Udim local government area, the local government of Senator Godswill Akpabio?.


Recall with pains and sadness , several testimonies of how INEC officials and voters were abducted at gun points, threatened, beaten up just to enable Senator Akpabio to perpetuate his Warsaw agenda, wherein he amounted to allocated over 61,000 phantom votes to himself not traceable to any polling units.

In any case, the judgment of the Appeal Court on this matter is self explanatory. The appellate court ordered Akpabio to go back and demonstrate again how he was able to muster over 61,000 votes whereas the entire accredited voters from card readers and voters register was only 19,500 . For anybody who boasts of scoring an A in a course, if asked to re-sit that examination with the same question paper, would it be right for that person to fret and babble on who the examiner should be?

Is the reason for the change of the umpire in anyway connected with his desire to fraudulently sneak in another person’s name when the Appeal Court specifically asked him(Akpabio) to go and complete an election that was nearly 98% completed?
Or is it because he has a willing electoral arbiter who is willing to play ball and suspend the highly rated card readers accreditation process that Igini insists on deploying? He has been boasting of a registered voters of 105,555 that he sexed up when he was a Governor which is bogus and not a true reflection of the voters there and he wants to write the results according to the bloated register and his only problem is lgini who will not allow anyone to write results.. Everyone by now know that given a fair and credible accreditation process, there can truly be no more than 20,000 eligible voters. And since Akpabio does not want a credible process, he would do everything to get Igini or anyone for that matter out of the way for his manipulations to sail through.

It is rather funny that a leader who prides himself as the leader of the South-South region of the country would be looking for how to use only one local government area out of ten to win election into the Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Is he saying that the constitution should be amended to make provision for the Office of the Senator representing Essien Udim Senatorial district?


The MANDATE EYES hereby advises the former Senator and the APC in Akwa Ibom to stop making storms out of tea cups. The party should rather brace up and go back to the people to solicit for votes. Need we remind them that for any election, the electoral Commissioner has a very well defined role of ensuring the electoral materials viz ballot papers and results sheet are delivered to polling units, returning officer collate results and announce winners. Where there is violence, snatching of ballot papers and disruption, lgini says no results would come from such places. That is why Akpabio is perpetually afraid of lgini’s presence as a Rec in the state.

The MANDATE EYES is therefore calling on Barr. igini to ignore the rantings of those who have seen defeat dangling on their face, and should go ahead with the rerun exercise credibly and with full application of the card reader.



Signed

Comrade Ernest Akpan
Coordinator

Comrade Joseph Okon
Secretary