PURPORTED ACCORD BETWEEN OBA AND GOV EMMANUEL OVER 2023 VERY LAUGHABLE - UDOM'S AIDE REPLIES EPHRAIM INYANG

The claims by the former Chief of Staff to the Governor, Mr Ephraim Inyangeyen of a purported existing political accord that tended to cede the governorship position of Akwa Ibom State in 2023 to Senator Bassey Albert, has been described as laughable and a fictitious.

Speaking in a radio interview programme in Uyo on Monday, a public affairs analyst, Mr Essien Ndueso said the election of Governor Udom Emmanuel in 2015 came after the people of Akwa Ibom State had unanimously agreed that whether by zoning or rotation, the political authority of the state from 2015-2023 should reside in Eket Senatorial District.

Mr Ndueso, a Special Assistant to the Governor on Research and Documentation wondered how Senator Albert could have stepped down for Governor Emmanuel in a race he was never qualified to contest.

"Senator Albert was at the time the Commissioner for for Finance and was part of the State delegation led by the then Governor Godswill Akpabio that tour all the federal constituencies in Akwa Ibom State through town hall meetings.

"He witnessed a general opinions of traditional and religious clerics, the business and political classes, traders and artisans, women and youth leaders, and the consensus was that power should shift, rotate or be zoned to Eket Senatorial District in 2015."

Essien Ndueso, who at the time was a Personal Assistant to the immediate past Governor, said that it was unfortunate that despite being a ranking member of the State Executive Council who was on the entourage of Governor throughout the town hall meetings, Bassey Albert went on to defy the unanimous decision by purchasing the governorship form.

Mr Ndueso also took a swipe at the allegation of poor reward system as peddled by the former Commissioner for Works.

He said Senator Bassey Albert negotiated and got a senate ticket ahead of his kinsman Senator Ita Enang in 2015 and got returned to the Senate in 2019, still another case of reward, and wondered why a person who has been appointed a Finance Commissioner for 7 and a half years and Senator for another eight years, complain of not being adequately rewarded.

To this end, he felt disappointed that Chief Ephraim Inyang who joined the government of Akwa Ibom State for the first time in 2015, before he was sacked for incompetence few weeks ago, could come out to mislead the public on a non existent accord that had no witness except himself.

Mr Ndueso, who served under the Director of Media Mr Ekerete Udoh and the Chairman of the Media and Publicity Directorate of the Campaigns Hon. Aniekan Umanah, as the Chief Information Officer in the 2015 PDP Campaigns, said Mr Ephraim Inyangeyen obviously erred in his submissions since he had not yet returned to the state from his sojourn in Lagos during the buildup to the elections.

I knew it must be one of those the governor is spoon feeding. People like this are simply enemies of the state . Where was he when Akpabio rose up against udom with the federal mights? Even his paymaster couldn't speak for himself.