Why Akwa Ibom REC Is Wrong On APC Matters – Eyiboh

One time spokesman of the House of Representatives and All Progressives Congress, APC candidate for Eket Federal Constituency, Hon Eseme Eyiboh has questioned the neutrality of the Resident Electoral Commissioner, REC for Akwa Ibom in issues pertaining to the affairs of the party in the state.

Speaking against the background of public positions taken by Mr Igini on the issues pertaining to the Akwa Ibom chapter of the APC, Eyiboh affirmed that the publication of the list of candidates aligned to the court approved mainstream of the party indicated that the REC and INEC were working at cross purposes.

He spoke at a media conference in Lagos where he affirmed that the REC’s stance in recognizing the Augustine Ekanem led leadership that was initially inspired by the former national secretary of the party, Senator John James Akpanudoedehe was against the guidelines and procedures.

He also revealed how those elected alongside Ekanem came to power without due process alleging that the bank tellers used to procure their forms for the state congress was procured after the election itself.

GreenWhiteGreen GWG reports that though majority of the supporters of Akpanudoedehe have moved over to the New Nigeria Peoples Party, NNPP where the former national secretary is now flying the governorship ticket of his new party, INEC in Akwa Ibom had continued to recognize Ekanem as the chairman.

That according to Eyiboh is despite the declarative judgment issued by Justice Taiwo Taiwo in March which declared the Senator Godswill Akpabio inspired executive of Stephen Ntukekpo as the recognized executive.

Besides, he said that the national leadership of the party had refused to appeal the judgment and had gone ahead to obey the court judgment in recognizing and inaugurating the Ntukekpo leadership.

The dispute in Akwa Ibom had led INEC to monitor party primaries conducted by the Ekanem led leadership as against those conducted by the court recognized Ntukekpo leadership.

Eyiboh at the media session, however, faulted the inclinations of the Igini led INEC leadership in Akwa Ibom which he claimed were at variance with court judgments and the pronouncements of the INEC headquarters in Abuja.

To buttress his point, he provided a letter dated June 21, 2022, addressed by INEC to the APC in which it was affirmed that the commission stood with the court order that recognized Ntukekpo as the chairman of the party in Akwa Ibom.

The letter read in part:

“The Commission wishes to formally draw your attention to the subsisting judgement/order of the Federal High Court, Abuja (Suit No: FHC/ABJ/CS/1635/2021) which recognized Hon. Obong Stephen Leo Ntukekpo as Chairman of the APC in Akwa Ibom,” the letter, signed by Rose Oriarah-Anthony, reads.

“This is to note that the commission is complying with the content of the judgement.”

While also sharing other documents of correspondences between INEC and the party to buttress the legitimacy of the Ntukekpo leadership, he expressed reservations on the impartiality of the INEC REC especially in the conduct of the party’s primaries.

He said:

“Twenty-one days’ notice is the statutory requirement for all political parties to inform INEC of its party primaries. And all the parties, including APC, notified INEC of the conduct of its primaries across the country, including Akwa Ibom.

“So, the state chairman of the party, who is Ntukekpo, wrote to INEC informing INEC of the venue, date of the conduct of the governorship, senate, house of reps and state house of assembly primaries in full compliance with the electoral act,” he said.

“It is the responsibility of INEC as an institution to engage its administrative procedures once the notice is given. It must not necessarily be the resident electoral commissioner. But the law stipulates that the political party must give 21 days’ statutory notice.

“So, the question is this. Did the political party issue this 21 days’ notice? Did they notify INEC of the venue, time, and date? The answer is yes. Whose responsibility is it to send monitors to go to that place? It is INEC’s responsibility. And when INEC refuses to send its personnel to go to that place, can a political party be punished for INEC’s absence? The answer is no.”

Still faulting Igini, he said:

“He acted not only ultra vires, he acted in contempt of his scope of office as a public officer. He conducted himself in a way and manner that was suggestive of not a representative of an INEC that is supposed to be impartial,” he added.

“What Igini is doing, can he function in his public duties using his personality to represent INEC in cases which are purely out of his control? We are not promoting ethical values and institutional integrity. It’s like we’re promoting a personal conflict.”

Eyiboh said while he wasn’t speaking on behalf of Akpabio or the party, he was concerned because whatever affects the party, affects him as a candidate.

“We should be able to raise the stakes of our electoral values, the institutional integrity, and social democratic values by trying to detach individual personalities from the institutions,” he said.

“INEC has done very well to improve on the electoral system. But that is not enough. Their officers should detach their personal opinions and sentiments from the institution.

“As a political party, we are going to have post-primary conflict here and there. So, what we are trying to do now is to engage a series of conflict management strategies, talk to party members, and we are lucky to have very strong personalities in APC in Akwa Ibom.

“On the issue of governorship, when Igini said APC has no candidate, that is not right. Our governorship candidate, Akanimo Udofia, has been most celebrated in recent times.”

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