Richard Peters

"Truth is, Bassey Albert since his conviction and sentencing wherein he was incarcerated at Ikot Ekpene prison, has tried to also drag others to the mud, dent more image and make many to be designated criminal, just as Satan vowed that he would never be alone in hell. But the question is, should everyone be given the criminal badge? Must everyone become a scammer? The answer is no."........

After the 2023 general election, one would have thought that Bassey Albert having seen how unpopular he was during the political outing, would rest and think of what to do for his life, but pride won't allow him. His ego won't let him think straight. He is up again in his usual characteristic to raise the dust, and make everyone cough. Like a wicked ghost, he is attempting to exhume an issue that was dead and buried just to score a cheap political point.

Bassey Albert has no case against Umo Eno than to continue to worship the gods of propaganda as his manner is, and try to raise dust inorder to continue to be relevant after his political obituary was justified on conclusion of the governorship election.

From the day Pst. Umo Eno declared his interest for the hilltop mansion, Albert has made several attempts to either take Umo Eno out of the picture or rubbish his image. But as God would like it, none saw the light of the day, rather, those obstacles made Pst Umo Eno to be stronger and more committed to serve.

There abound instances where cases were remotely filed against Pst. Umo Eno, and these cases did not have any bearing with what was at hand, other than being sponsored by mischief makers with the motive to stop Pst. Umo Eno.

For instance, the case prior to the governorship primary election, wherein the plaintiffs argued that only statutory delegates should vote during the primary, and not the adhoc delegates was an attempt to stop Pst. Eno, and nothing more. At the end of the day, Umo Eno still won convincingly in the court, even till the supreme court.

As if that was not enough, Akan Okon took up a case of certificate forgery. And all through the different courts of competent jurisdiction wherein the case was heard, the judgments were in favour of Umo Eno.

Immediately after that, Babatan in line with the meaning of his name attempted to put sand in the political delicacy that was well cooked, but the sand could not spoil the soup, as they were sieved out, up to the supreme court.

Then came a very frivolous case instituted at the magistrate court by a nameless and faceless individual. As God would like it, Pst. Eno was vindicated.

In all these, directly or indirectly, these cases were sponsored with third forces in order to take Umo Eno out of the picture. But since Umo had been ordained King from birth, the prayer of his people "God Save the King" was sounding and re-
echoing throughout the period, and God heard their prayer and saved Umo Eno.

If these cases were allowed to follow the dictates of men who were all out to thwart Umo Eno's ambition, maybe they would have smiled home. But God was involved all through and saved the King.

After all the battles, the 2023 election was conducted with Pst Umo Eno as the PDP governorship candidate in the state, and at the end of the exercise, he won clearly with a wide margin.

As the tradition is, any candidate who is not satisfied with the outcome of an election has the right to approach the election petition tribunal, and prove beyond reasonable doubt that he/she was robbed of his/her mandate. That is the practice in democracies all over the world.

But during a post election press conference at the instance of Bassey Albert and the YPP, they alluded that they won the election and their mandate was stolen. Their supporters took the fallacy to the social media market to sell, and cry same at every corner. It would have been nice for them to prove same at the tribunal, but they did not do that. Instead, we now wake up to see a strange narrative flooding the social media space about Umo Eno being expelled from school over WAEC result, an issue that was dead and buried before the election, having been heard and tried from the high court to the supreme court, wherein the plaintiff was asked to pay damages, the case struck out for lacking in merit, and Umo Eno was declared eligible to stand for the election.

The courts also affirmed that Umo Eno was the authentic candidate of the PDP, and qualified to contest the election.

Therefore, this strange narrative by Bassey Albert and cohorts is laughable and very ridiculous. If they have any idea as to how to stall Pst. Umo Eno's inauguration, they would have done it. They have done their bid to see that such happens, but God saved the King, and Umo Eno will be sworn-in as governor of Akwa Ibom state come May 29.

Truth is, Bassey Albert since his conviction and sentencing wherein he was incarcerated at Ikot Ekpene prison, has tried to also drag others to the mud, dent more image and make many to be designated criminal, just as Satan vowed that he would never be alone in hell. But the question is, should everyone be given the criminal badge? Must everyone become a scammer? The answer is no.

He had fraudulently embezzled funds meant for the public and the law was invoked against him, he should go alone, face his music and allow a man who has built his reputation over the years to live in peace.
Instead, he is acting as the devil his father to rub the stain on everyone around him and implicate others.

Albert is indeed in another prison of scorn and propaganda to deceive the gullible and cause confusion. For the record, the issue of certificate forgery had been addressed by courts of competent jurisdiction. It is a concluded matter. It cannot be retried through the back door. Please see the recent judgment of the Supreme Court delivered in Adeleke's case, which is a precedence for other similar cases.

How can a man who is said to have been expelled made it to the graduation list, issued a bachelors degree and afterwards, gained admission and was awarded a masters degree? Currently, he is doing his PhD programme. The truth of the matter is that the usual line of propaganda always adopted has refused to fly as the people who would have bought it can no longer find it interesting.

On May 29, 2023, Pst. Umo Eno will be sworn-in as governor. This is the will of God, and there is nothing anybody can do about it.