Emmanuel’s Kinsman Moves Supporters to Ekere

The electoral fortunes of Governor Udom Emmanuel of Akwa Ibom State in his clan, Awa, in Onna Local Government Area, further dwindled as his kinsman and governorship aspirant, Archbishop Samuel Akpan, joined forces with the governor’s main opponent in the 2019 governorship election and Managing Director of Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), Obong Nsima Ekere.

Last year, the governor suffered the defection of his maternal cousins, Messer Kingsley Uffang and Valentine Uffang, who led many others from his village, Awa Iman, to the All Progressives Congress (APC).

At a rally in his village, Abak Ishiet, attended by members of his political organization and drawn from the 31 local government areas and 329 wards in the state, Akpan announced his withdrawal from the APC governorship race and expressed support for Ekere.

The grassroots mobiliser said he was stepping down to team up with Ekere and other APC leaders to “correct the mistakes Akpabio made in 2015.”

Akpan, a former State Deputy Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Special Adviser on Political and Legislative Affairs to former Governor Godswill Akpabio, advised Governor Emmanuel, not to seek re-election because he stood no chance of winning.

“There is nothing left again in PDP. I have come to send a message to my junior brother and my friend, Emmanuel, that he should not contest that election because he will not win. I am talking today, as the leader of this community where we (he and Emmanuel) come from, that Udom can’t win this lection.