Akpan Umoh, Uyo
The National Secretary of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Senator John James Akpanudoedehe, said the party is well-positioned in Akwa Ibom State to wrestle power with the People’s Democratic Party (PDP).
Speaking at the Nigeria Union of Journalists Secretariat, Uyo, Akpanudoedehe, maintained that APC would be victorious notwithstanding the fact the party did not take part in the just concluded local government elections in Akwa Ibom.
Akpanudoedehe, who is also a board member of the Nigeria Ports Authority (NPA), debunked the insinuations that APC was in crisis in Akwa Ibom State, pointing out that as the main opposition political party in the state, APC is intact as ever.
The APC chieftain, who noted opposition in politics as a healthy affair, noted that without the opposition parties, the incumbent party would be too powerful and ineffective in leadership with no human interest at heart.
The former Minister of State for the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), who is widely described as the face of opposition in Akwa Ibom, recalled that much destructions including arson took place in the state in 2011, when he vied as Governor on the platform of the then Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), regretted that the mayhem were wrongly attributed to him.
The Senator who decried the attack meted on himself and his campaign team at Ikot Ekpene, in the run-up to the contest, which also fuelled the 2011 mayhem in the state, said the APC in the just concluded local government polls had to give the ruling PDP the free-hand to monopolize the elections to avoid another round of violence.
However, ahead of the 2023 general elections, Senator Akpanudoedehe, said the APC had since undertaken a rebuilding process and would get its axe right for the exercise, especially with the recent reconciliation drive towards entrenching best practices for effective opposition.
“There is no crisis in Akwa Ibom APC; we are united because we recently had a reconciliation meeting and we all have accepted the need for peace in our Party, except you were not at the reconciliation meeting”, he said.
The APC National Secretary who was at the NUJ Press Centre as part of activities marking his 57th birthday anniversary, commended the Akwa Ibom Council of the NUJ led by Comrade Amos Etuk, for also offering the platform for the opposition parties to ventilate its views on leadership, explaining that the ruling People’s Democratic Party in the state may not be the desired El-Dorado for the common good of the people.
Warning the people not to wholeheartedly follow the sentiments of politicians and political party, the former Minister recalled some PDP chiefs including former governor Godswill Akpabio were controlling PDP, “but today, they are with me in the APC”, adding: “you don’t know where Governor Udom Emmanuel will be tomorrow”.
“Any government in power will not forget the media because without the media, there would not have been any democracy in the World”, he noted and charged the union to be accommodating to all political parties for equity, fairness and justice.
Responding, the State Council Chairman of NUJ, Comrade Amos Etuk said that the media in the State would always remain objective in reportage and open to all shed of opinions bein the eyes and ears of the society.
He thanked the APC National Secretary, who is one of the industrious sons of the State for choosing to celebrate his birthday with members of the Union, and prayed God to continue to keep and protect him to see more fulfilling years head.