Akwa Ibom PDP Chairman Slams APC: “Stop Casting Aspersion On The Integrity Of Our Judicary”

In my earlier piece which was published in a number of national newspapers on Monday, December 14, 2015, I had asked the All Progressive Congress (APC) to leave our judiciary alone in its vile and morally objectionable propaganda campaign.

It appears the APC and its leadership in Akwa Ibom State are bent on destroying our judiciary and casting aspersion and doubt in its capacity to deliver fair, just and unbiased judgments on cases before the esteemed justices of our electoral tribunals.

In a shocking and utterly condemnable advertorial that the APC Elders in Akwa Ibom State wrote, which was published in The Nation of yesterday-December 16, 2015 entitled CONCERNED AKWA IBOM ELDERS DECRY LACK OF JUSTICE IN JUDICIAL DECISIONS ON AKWA IBOM ELECTIONS…DEMAND PROBE OF CONTRADICTORY JUDGEMENTS, they went after our judiciary and made wild, shocking and unfounded allegations about the integrity of our judiciary.

In one of the paragraphs of the said advertorial, they had said this about our judiciary- an institution that remains the best hope of the common man “the blatant denial of justice by the judiciary to Akwa Ibom voters and the APC candidates who contested the elections has presented Nigeria before the international community as a country of strong men, where only the rich and the powerful get justice. Nigeria is thus reduced by some of its judges to a laughing stock before the international community.”

It is very sad that a party that we expect to developed some level of circumspection in its comments about key institutions of our country, especially the judiciary would adopt a kitchen-sink approach, in order to get its wish.

As I said in my earlier piece, Nigerians should be proud of the role our judiciary has played in helping defend our democratic ideals and culture. It smacks of desperation taken too far for the APC to be impugning the integrity and honor of our esteemed members of the

judiciary, especially when the source of their information is a discredited medium like the Sahara Reporters who just last Thursday, December 10, 2015, had published on its website a false and

embarrassing story that the Appeal Court had nullified the election of the Minority Leader of the Senate of the Federal Republic, Distinguished Senator Godswill Obot Akpabio (CON). Sahara Reporters had to retract the story and apologize to its readers for publishing the false story.

The Appeal Court it would be recalled, reaffirmed Senator Akpabio's election, the next day-Friday, December 11, 2015-a full 24 hours after Sahara Reporters had published the false story, yet it is this same discredited medium that the authors of the advertorial used as the

source of their information to attack our judiciary. How so desperate! We want to reiterate here that the APC knows that Akwa Ibom State remains the bastion of the PDP and for justice, equity and fairness the party had, after holding Town Hall Meetings in all the 10 Federal Constituencies, seen the need to encourage only candidates from Eket Senatorial District to vie for the Governorship of the State during the primaries.

Of all the three Senatorial Districts in the State, only Eket, which is where the oil wealth of the State comes from, has not produced a Governor since the creation of the State 28 years ago. Uyo Senatorial District had produced the Director - General of our Divine Mandate

Campaign, an apostle of equity, fairness and justice, Retired Air Commodore (Otuekong) Idongest Nkanga, who governed the State as a military Governor, the Late Obong Akpan Isemin who governed the State from January 2, 1992 to November 18, 1993 and Architect Victor Attah

who also governed the State from May 29, 1999 May 29, 2007. From May 29, 2007- May 29, 2015, Ikot Ekpene Senatorial District produced Governor Godswill Obot Akpabio, the current Minority Leader of the Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. The APC candidate, Mr.

Umana Okoh Umana is from Uyo Senatorial District.
The people of Akwa Ibom State , having reflected on this just and equitable wish, had nominated Udom Emmanuel who is an accomplished son of Eket Senatorial District on December 8, 2014 as the PDP Gubernatorial Candidate , and went ahead to vote overwhelmingly for him on April 11, 2015 as the Governor of Akwa Ibom State .

So far, he has redeemed his campaign promises. The good people of Akwa Ibom State are solidly behind the Governor and as they say in the United States. “If it aint broke, don't fix it”. Akwa Ibom State is not broken, the State of our union and the fundamentals for growth remain strong and resilient, under the capable, safe and secure hands of our beloved Governor Udom Emmanuel.

Our party remains resolute and our loyalty and support for Governor Udom Emmanuel is strong and solid and, no amount of lies and propaganda from the APC will distract us from helping the Governor continue to do the people's business for which he was overwhelmingly elected to do, on April 11, 2015.

We wish to again, ask the APC TO PLEASE LEAVE OUR JUDICIARY ALONE in their vile and lies-laden propaganda campaign.

Signed:
Obong Paul Ekpo
State Chairman,
Posted by
Atangakpaniko Essien Ndueso
Uyo, Akwa Ibom State
@essiendu
[email protected]
Facebook.com/EssienNdueso