Mr. Edwin Joseph, the only candidate of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) who successfully emerged House member-elect at the April 26th state House of Assembly election in Akwa Ibom state has been described as a virus by the state governor, Chief Godswill Akpabio of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

Akpabio who doubles as the governor-elect made the declaration at a reception ceremony organized by his governorship campaign organization after collecting his return certificate as the governor-elect during the week.
Akpabio stated that the PDP will file a petition at the election petition tribunal seeking to upturn the election of the ACN lone candidate in the House.

[size=15pt]“And for the one seat out of the 26 seats in the state House won by an ACN man, we will challenge it at the tribunal, you shook my hand but I shook your hands with half hand because I don’t know how you came in, you are a virus in the House. Yes, Lagos is an ACN state and all the Lagos state House members are ACN members so I don’t see why you should come into Akwa Ibom State House,” he stated.[/size]

According to Akpabio, the ACN won elections in Uyo federal and state constituency because the elections were rigged in their favour, even as the electorates especially the non-indigenes did not come out to vote for fear of being victimized, as adequate security was not guaranteed.

“That was why we lost elections in Uyo. My victory was overwhelming, even if I contest elections ten times over, I will still win,” Akpabio boasted.

In a related development, the ACN in the state has vowed to recover the electoral mandate purportedly stolen from them by an alleged conspiratorial alliance between INEC in the state and the PDP during the April 26th elections in the state.
ACN’s position was contained was contained in a press statement issued by the party in the state.

The press statement, which was signed by Dr. Amadu Attai and Barr. Andem Ndem, Acting State Chairman and Legal Adviser of the party respectively, stated that party had filed its governorship election petition as well as several Houses of Assembly petitions at the requisite election petition tribunal in the state.

According to it, the best election petition Senior Advocates of Nigeria, (SAN) which include; Mr. Kola Awodein, Chief Niyi Akintola and Prof. Yemi Osinbajo had crafted and filed the petition on May 16th and 17th respectively.

“This development will put paid to the speculative propaganda by the PDP that we have accepted the result of the elections and congratulated Governor Akpabio.

“We are convinced beyond doubts that this petition will change the political landscape of Akwa Ibom state for good. This party has done it in Ekiti, Edo, Osun, Delta and Akwa Ibom shall not be an exception,” the statement added.

Sounds like a true democrat, this guy.

The virus better be careful before Akpabio murders him just like he murdered the CAN chieftain in Akwa-Ibom

this man is no democrat, more like a tyrant to me, God forbid this joke of a man come anywhere near the Presidency.

Gov. Akpabio does not like ACN. You would think he is an Igbo man, but the man is Ibibio.

You missed the sarcasm!

KnowAll:

this man is no democrat, more like a tyrant to me, God forbid this joke of a man come anywhere near the Presidency. 

ekt_bear:

Sounds like a true democrat, this guy.

Now he doesn't like ACN and now uses Lagos as a reason why no member of the HA in Akwa Ibom should be from ACN. Wasn't this the same guy Tribune gave an award, and came down to Ibadan all smiles.

He is a Baboon, pure and simple !!! He is going to rubbish Akwa Ibom during this last tenure because he has the mental attidue of a cretin!!!

EzeUche_:

Gov. Akpabio does not like ACN. You would think he is an Igbo man, but the man is Ibibio. 

koruji:

You missed the sarcasm!

Now he doesn't like ACN and now uses Lagos as a reason why no member of the HA in Akwa Ibom should be from ACN. Wasn't this the same guy Tribune gave and award, and came down to Ibadan all smiles.

He is a Baboon, pure and simple !!! He is going to rubbish Akwa Ibom during this last tenure because he has the mental attidue of a cretin!!!

Have you ever been to Akwa Ibom state?

The state is one of the most developed states in Nigeria. The infrastructure developments in the state are better than what is occurring in Lagos. He is just temperamental when it comes to politics.

He is correct, what is ACN doing in our zone? They have Lagos which they treat as their personal property, why should we allow them in our zone? They are a virus. Most of the posters on this thread are not from the area and can't understand why "the natives" don't want to be colonized.

ACN has no future in the south south or south-eastern zone of Nigeria. The party stinks of ethnocentric vulgar and judging by its recent electoral performance it is a yoruba tribal party. We don't want it anywhere in our backyard.

Never being to Akwa Ibom, but met Akwa Ibomites in my NYSC year in Owerri - good memories.

The reason he got the award from Tribune was precisely in recognition of his work in Akwa Ibom state. Did he say to himself that this award was being given by the SW and throw it back, instead of, I am almost sure, proudly displaying it in his office.

The fact is that he, like many Nigerian politicians are educated or even brilliant, but remain unelightened. The entire point is that if someone was voted in a free-and-fair election, all sides must learn to recognize the supremacy of the people's vote.

How can he declare a person from his state a virus because he got elected on a different political platform? It shows an unwarranted level of hate in him. Are they not supposed to be working towards the same end of bettering the lot of their people. Akpabio and PDP had the ACN governorship candidate jailed just b/4 the election, an ACN member had already being assassinated, and now he is refering to a human being as a virus - we know what follows the declaration that something is a virus.

Akpabio needs to thread carefully because power is indeed temporary, and he might one day be called upon to answer for the violence visited on ACN members under his watch.

EzeUche_:

Have you ever been to Akwa Ibom state?

The state is one of the most developed states in Nigeria. The infrastructure developments in the state are better than what is occurring in Lagos. He is just temperamental when it comes to politics.

Ezeuche, I was in Akwa Ibom for a wedding very recently and the developments there can not be compared in any way to what is happening in Surulere talkless of the whole of Lagos, please do not swallow the propaganda, the former governor did far more than this Akpabio of a guy, always verify your facts first.

Ezeuche says the guy is temperamental, he is more than that, he is a killer, one of the guys running against him had his wife kidnapped and violated by his boys, that man is seriously mental I tell you.

koruji:

The entire point is that if someone was voted in a free-and-fair election, all sides must learn to recognize the supremacy of the people's vote.

End of story, really.

You would think by the way you people are talking that the ACN candidates we are talking about are Yorubas - we are talking about Akwa Ibomites people. You are simply PDP agents pretending to defend Akwa Ibom people. When Akwa Ibomites went to the poll and elected an ACN candidate, that should be the end of the matter. Kapish.

If a PDP person wins a free and fair election in Lagos nobody should refer to him/her as a virus - and if someone does then such a person is a Baboon too!!! PDP candidates won elections in many ACN controlled states. Ondo is still under LP's control. The issue is not about the party per se, it is who/what people want. The party is just a way to give people multiple choices in an election.

So, you PDP agents of doom just need to stop using the blood of our people West, East, North or South to protect your incompetence. Your pretentious days are numbered.

Calculia:

ACN has no future in the south south or south-eastern zone of Nigeria. The party stinks of ethnocentric vulgar and judging by its recent electoral performance it is a yoruba tribal party. We don't want it anywhere in our backyard.

Calculia:

ACN has no future in the south south or south-eastern zone of Nigeria. The party stinks of ethnocentric vulgar and judging by its recent electoral performance it is a yoruba tribal party. We don't want it anywhere in our backyard.

Too bad thought this guy was actually different

Ezeuche says the guy is temperamental, he is more than that, he is a killer, one of the guys running against him had his wife kidnapped and violated by his boys, that man is seriously mental I tell you.
Posted on: Today at 04:16:01 PM
Posted by: hercules07

i seem to remember reading this somewhere

When I went to Uyo, no other politician was allowed a bill board, the ACN one I saw was draped on the ACN guy's house, if not for Attah's greed and stubborn nature, Akwa Ibom would not have been saddled with him.

These sochiopaths and psociopaths shouldn't be running anything talk less the lves of millions of people.

Mynd_44:

Too bad thought this guy was actually different

Different ke ? This is the same wicked person who tacitly endorsed the evil treatment being meted out to the so-called "witch children" until pressure , home and abroad , became too much to ignore. Anyone who can support the punishment of innocent children is a neanderthal IMO.

http://thewillnigeria.com/opinion/5942-GOVERNOR-AKPABIOS-WAR-AGAINST-CHILDREN.html

GOVERNOR AKPABIO’S WAR AGAINST CHILDREN
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OKEY NDIBE 20/09/2010 18:17:00
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Governor Godswill Akpabio of Akwa Ibom is in danger of doing something that’s unforgivably evil. In the name of protecting the image of his state, he has set out to destroy two organizations that are doing an admirable job of rescuing innocent children who are stigmatized as witches and wizards – and then subjected to brutalization.

In a recent CNN program devoted to the plight of Akwa Ibom’s "witch" children, the state’s commissioner of information, Aniekan Umanah, resorted to the most bizarre of lies. Unabashed, this commissioner told the world, in effect, that the problem was a mere hullabaloo and fiction, the product of a scam by two groups – one, the UK-based Stepping Stones Nigeria (SSN) run by Gary Foxcroft, the other, the indigenous Child Rights and Rehabilitation Network (CRARN), run by Sam Itauma.

Following his commissioner’s shameful attempt to convince CNN viewers that the young victims of witchcraft persecution were actors and actresses directed by Foxcroft and Itauma, Governor Akpabio delivered an address to the state where he spoke along the same lines. In Akpabio’s facile script, the many children being sheltered, fed and educated thanks to the collaborative work of SSN and CRARN are victims, not of depraved witch hunters, but of two men determined to make a fortune.

The governor’s allegations are the more astonishing because he must know that his claims were deceptive. As a duly registered entity in the UK, Stepping Stones Nigeria is required by law to file documents disclosing the donations it received as well as its expenditures. If Akpabio had any proof that SSN’s funds were diverted, he could send Foxcroft on his way to jail by forwarding the evidence to British authorities.

But the governor and his commissioner are the ones making facile fiction out of a gory reality. The fact is that children, thousands of children, in Akwa Ibom are accused of witchcraft, and then beaten, burned, maimed and killed on the grounds of the unproven, ignorant charges.

It’s a shameful, shocking reality, and one that should challenge the governor and his cabinet to keep sleepless nights until the traumatized children are safe and their tormentors brought to book.

Instead of doing this, the governor and his commissioner have taken the low road. They have decided to wage a vile campaign against the two men whose dedication and advocacy have made a world of a difference in the lives of some of these persecuted innocents.

Governor Akpabio was not content to stop at vending a falsehood by accusing SSN and CRARN of fraudulent exploitation. Since his declaration of war – ostensibly on Foxcroft and Itauma, but in actuality against the unfortunate children that the two men care for – "security" men have turned the town of Eket, where the children are sheltered, into a theater of indiscriminate shooting. It is nothing less than evil to compound the travails of children who have been put through hell-grade suffering. Itauma, the portrait of a loving father to these maligned, mauled children, has been forced to look constantly over his shoulder, and to run for dear life.

It’s bad enough that Mr. Akpabio did not offer to make the resettlement of these children a singular mission of his administration. In seeking to slash and burn those who offer succor and a glimmer of hope to the castaways, the governor is, in effect, savaging poor children who had already suffered cruelty on a scale that would horrify anybody with a modicum of humanity.

It was in late 2008 that BBC Channel 4 first exposed the hideous dehumanization of children in a documentary titled "Saving Africa’s Witch Children." As I wrote in an earlier column, "I was transported to one of the most gruesome, barbaric and dehumanizing documentaries I’ve ever watched." Here’s a longer excerpt from that earlier column: "In an instant, I was placed in front of a wrenching gallery of savagery, horror and cruelty perpetrated at children. Innocent, helpless children!

"For some minutes, I gazed in absolute shock. I shook with shame, revulsion and rage at these graphic images of children killed, mutilated, burned, starved and abandoned, all on the grounds that they are ‘witches and wizards.’ A shirtless man in a village looks straight at the camera and states with deadpan ease, ‘I want to kill that small girl.’ Another woman, apparently a mother, pointed to two or three of her children and said they had confessed to killing their grandmother – with witchcraft! The camera pans to a young, big-eyed girl, her expression one of shy befuddlement. Then the narrator explains: ‘This is the story of Africa’s child witches, like five-year old Mary denounced as Satan made flesh.’

"One girl tells how her "senior" brother poured boiling water on her, scalding her skin. Another girl’s torso shows the hideous injury inflicted when her father made her sit on a fire. There’s the story of a thirteen-year old girl, stooped on the ground, her skull still showing the scar of a nail driven into it!"

There’s no question: that documentary calls into question the very humanity of those who make an evil, bloody sport of preying on the most helpless, voiceless but important segment of our population.

Adding to the shock value of the documentary was the revelation that several so-called Christian evangelists had joined the cottage industry that tainted children as witches and wizards. The documentary featured a man named "Bishop" Sunday Ulup-Aya, a self-styled "poison destroyer," the poison he destroys being witchcraft, and the bearers of that poison being innocent children. Some of the accused witches and wizards are still toddlers. Before they have learned to walk, they have been diagnosed as blood-sucking witches or wizards by this obviously deranged "bishop" posing, like many other crazed miscreants, as "a man of God."

The dean of these defamers of children is one Helen Akpabio. Ms. Akpabio fancies herself an evangelical warrior against witchcraft, but she is, instead, a trader in superstition – and a manufacturer of horrors. Deluded in her fervor, this woman even concocted a formula for detecting witchcraft in children, some of them toddlers. Among her preposterous signs that a child is under the spell of witchcraft are fever and bouts of crying.

In other words, if a child is sick – and most of the children in Akwa Ibom are in poor health – and cries on account of ill health or hunger, then Ms. Akpabio’s diagnosis, in all likelihood, would be witchcraft.

Genuine Christians everywhere must be outraged at the misuse of God’s name by sadists and merchants who do incalculable harm to children.

The animalization of the children of Akwa Ibom would never have been condoned in a society where citizens are enlightened and enjoy a decent standard of life, the government alive to its responsibilities, the chief of which is the safeguarding of life and property. The documentary, then, exposed the profound weakness if not glaring absence of the instrument of governance in Akwa Ibom. Akwa Ibom is, in this regard, like the rest of Nigeria, a space rife with aborted hopes, riddled with comatose dreams and unrealized potentials.

The whole child witchcraft saga is borne of a history of national failure. I wrote in 2008: "As Nigeria’s misery index has risen, many citizens – unable to put food on the table, or to gain access to healthcare, or to generally live with the dignity of human beings – have taken to superstition, make-belief and magic. Instead of recognizing the objective factors and forces that devalue their lives, they accept some pastor or imam’s lie that they are victims of ‘spiritual attack’ by diabolical neighbors or even sinister relatives."

Governor Akpabio should cease his inelegant stomping against Foxcroft and Itauma. Perhaps he’s exasperated that the continuing focus on the agony of the child "witches" taints the state’s image. If so, he must realize that the way out is to commit time, energy and resources in a sustained war against the species of ignorance and poverty that breeds virulent superstition and acts of violence against children too handicapped to speak up in their own defense.

If Mr. Akpabio wants a good fight, I propose that he take on the likes of Ms. Akpabio who invoke God’s name to justify the infliction of unspeakable bodily and mental torture on God’s beautiful, even if impoverished, children.

Okey Ndibe is at okeyndibe@gmail.com

Johndoe100:

He is correct, what is ACN doing in our zone? They have Lagos which they treat as their personal property, why should we allow them in our zone? They are a virus. Most of the posters on this thread are not from the area and can't understand why "the natives" don't want to be colonized.

See, rascals, Virus and the list is growing. . .

Dis Guy:

See, rascals, Virus and the list is growing.   .    . 

The masses hate to see ACN on the ground in the SE/SS but our greedy politicians will try to bring it here.
It's a virus that needs to be checked. Violence and thuggery seems to be embedded in the party.

Obiagu1:

The masses hate to see ACN on the ground in the SE/SS but our greedy politicians will try to bring it here.
It's a virus that needs to be checked. Violence and thuggery seems to be embedded in the party.

the only people that hate to see other parties winning an election in their neighbourhood are the political thugs!
The masses voted for Ngige or the majority of them and they voted for this particular member in their constituency

Violence and thuggery as shown in the Imo election were perpetuated by ACN members uh?
or those in Bayelsa were amongst their members?

Dis Guy:

the only people that hate to see other parties winning an election in their neighbourhood are the political thugs!
The masses voted for Ngige or the majority of them and they voted for this particular member in their constituency

Violence and thuggery as shown in the Imo election were perpetuated by ACN members uh?
or those in Bayelsa were amongst their members?

There's always thuggery and violence in Nigerian elections but none compares to the one we witnessed from ACN in Akwa-Ibom State in the whole of SE/SS. Completely unprecedented.

So the Governor's idea of true democracy , is to have a one party House of Assembly?!
Only in Nigeria!