Elders Loyal to Umana Umana Replies Sen. Anietie Okon's Group; Says Relocation of the State's Elections Petition Tribunal to Abuja was Geniune

The attention of the real Elders and Leaders of Akwa Ibom State has been drawn to a media publication attributed to Senator Anietie Okon, who reportedly addressed a press conference in Uyo on behalf of some so-called “Concerned Akwa Ibom Elders.” In the publication, Senator Okon stated that his group was opposed to the relocation of the state’s election petition tribunals from Uyo to Abuja because the relocation was a plot to subvert the will of Akwa Ibom people in the governorship election.

We, the true and patriotic Elders of Akwa Ibom State, feel duty-bound to respond to the puerile press statement by Senator Okon, and hereby submit as follows to set the record straight about the relocation of the Akwa Ibom Election Petition Tribunals from Uyo to Abuja.

1. Contrary to the baseless speculation by PDP members that the tribunals were moved to Abuja for political reasons, it is on record that their relocation was ordered by the President of the Court of Appeal in exercise of her power to do so once she made the determination that it was not safe for the tribunals to continue to sit in Uyo. The argument that the tribunals could not be moved to safer grounds in the face of persistent security threats to both the tribunal members and witnesses for petitioners before the tribunals reflects gross ignorance of the law. The President of the Court of Appeal has the power to extend the jurisdiction of the tribunals so that they can sit and dispense justice in a neutral and safe location, which is precisely what she has done with regard to the Akwa Ibom State Election Petition Tribunals as well as the tribunals for Rivers, Taraba, etc, all of which faced direct security threats before the relocation.

2. There is no dispute that as the tribunals opened sitting in Uyo the PDP began with the lawless attitude of bringing supporters and thugs in not less than twenty (20) buses to the Tribunal premises at every adjournment of the case. These supporters and thugs were known to be disrupting court proceedings and jeering at Counsel to the opponents of the PDP!

3. Most certainly, the President of the Court of Appeal must have acted on good intelligence in reaching the decision to relocate the Tribunals. The strenuous effort by these elements to impugn the integrity of the President of the Court of Appeal is unfortunate and ought to be condemned by all right-thinking and responsible members of society.

4. The allegation by Senator Okon on behalf of the so-called concerned Akwa Ibom elders that the APC is seeking to influence the outcome of the election petitions is the latest outburst in a series of baseless insinuations by PDP members against APC and even the President and Commander-in-Chief. Recently the national publicity secretary of the PDP, Mr. Olisa Metuh, and the Akwa Ibom State chairman of the PDP, Mr. Paul Ekpo, alleged without a shred of evidence that President Muhammadu Buhari is part of a plot to influence the election petition tribunals in Akwa Ibom State and other states to reach a verdict in favour of the All Progressives Congress (APC). We believe it is cheap blackmail for the PDP to peddle false alarm of political interference by the President and the APC in purely judicial matters. Their baseless allegation is an affront to the independence of the Judiciary and the principle of separation of power.

5. The PDP position on the issue of where the tribunals sit seems to suggest unfortunately that Presidents can and should interfere with the work of election tribunals. This is perhaps why ex-governor Godswill Akpabio is making nocturnal and surreptitious attempts to see President Buhari and other APC chieftains with a proposal to turn over the illegitimate PDP government in Akwa Ibom State to the APC in exchange for presidential help to retain the so-called victory of the PDP in the state.

6. In one of his points against the relocation of the tribunals, Senator Okon said the argument about security concerns was baseless because “Akwa Ibom state has remained a haven of peace and a good example of a secure state compared to other states in the federation.” We would take as a morbid joke Senator Okon’s description of Akwa Ibom State as a “peace haven and secure state” since former governor Godswill Akpabio took over in 2007. How could any elder describe Akwa Ibom under Godswill Akpabio as a “peace haven”? Such description is not only an egregious insult, it also flies in the face of facts. On the two election days during the year, 30 innocent members and supporters of the APC were murdered by PDP thugs and the private army of the then state governor. It is most callous and insensitive of the so-called elders to describe the state as a peace haven when families that lost loved ones to wanton violence before and during the elections are still grieving their losses.

7. It is highly insensitive to the memories and families of Rt. Hon. Okon Uwah and Engineer Albert Ukpanah, who were killed by PDP thugs in the build-up to the general elections, for Senator Okon and some so-called elders to describe Akwa Ibom as a peace haven. How could Akwa Ibom qualify to be a peace haven when more than 300 indigenes of the state were killed and kidnapped in the most ruthless reign of terror and political persecution during the immediate past administration? The blood of Chief Paul Inyang, Mama Udonwa, Episco (the first Akwa Ibom patriot whose slaughter heralded the bloody reign of ex-governor Godswill Akpabio) and other martyrs of the state cries to high heaven against those who mock them with the hollow claim that the killing field where they paid the supreme sacrifice is a peace haven.

8. It is on record that the Akwa Ibom State PDP House of Representatives member for Ukanafun/Oruk Anam Federal Constituency, Mr Emmanuel Ukoette, had ordered his supporters in the presence of then governor Godswill Akpabio during a political rally in Oruk Anam local council, to pluck the eyes of those who are opposed to the PDP in the state. A few weeks later, Emmanuel Ukoette’s supporters carried out their master’s order with the brutal murder of Rt. Hon. Okon Uwah, former deputy speaker of the Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly. Late Uwah was the most visible opponent of Ukoette; he was also an APC candidate representing Ukanafun State Constituency in the 2015 general elections. The PDP thugs who bludgeoned Okon Uwah to death in broad daylight, undisguised, were chanting that they were Ukoette’s boys as they carried out their master’s decree.

9. Senator Okon and his club of so-called concerned elders have threatened to instigate the breakdown of law and order in the state if the tribunals are not relocated to Uyo and if the verdicts of the tribunals on the election petitions do not go their way. We want to draw the attention of the Inspector-General of Police and the Director-General of the State Security Service to the threat to the peace and security of the state by Senator Anietie Okon and his cohorts parading as elders. This warning is very important and should be taken seriously in the light of the recent history of our traumatised state. In the lead-up to the elections, ex-governor Akpabio threatened that those who sought to be governor without his blessing would die. We reported this and the threat by Emmanuel Ukoette to the security agencies. We also reported that the state government under Akpabio was setting up an armed militia to be used against the opposition during the elections. Nothing was done about the threats.

10. If the authorities had hearkened to our warnings and taken actions, it is certain that the death of Okon Uwah and those of the other 30 innocent citizens of the state who were killed during the elections would have been averted. While we await the authorities to hold Senator Anietie Okon and his group to account for their utterances which obviously constitute grave threats to peace and security, we want to state unequivocally that we are prepared to defend the right of Akwa Ibom people to elect leaders of their choice in free, fair and transparent elections.

11. Senator Okon complained that the jubilation that greeted news of the relocation of the tribunals in some quarters in Akwa Ibom State was evidence that the relocation was meant to achieve a sinister purpose. We believe Senator Okon and his group missed the true meaning of the joy of Akwa Ibom people about where the tribunals are sitting now. The people rejoiced because they know that another excuse for more bloodshed has been removed; the people rejoiced because they know that witnesses can testify and the tribunal members can hear them in an atmosphere that is free of threats, intimidation and fear.

12. While the tribunals sat in Uyo, prospective witnesses for APC candidates received daily death threats. PDP thugs and supporters inundated the tribunal venue to intimidate members and witnesses whom the thugs feared would help the petitioners to get justice. The rascality and impunity of the PDP was so much that the immediate past Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice in the state, Mr. Uwemedimo Nwoko, personally went to INEC office in Uyo to disrupt the examination and scanning of ballot papers for forensic test, which was an exercise carried out on the order of the tribunal. Yet in spite of this, the so-called concerned elders would call a press conference to tell the world that the tribunals faced no security threats, and that Akwa Ibom State is a peace haven.

13. If the PDP in Akwa Ibom State did not hope to gain undue advantage from the sitting of the tribunals in Uyo, they should not expect to be disadvantaged merely because the tribunals have relocated to Abuja.

14. It is a shame that the so-called concerned elders under the leadership of Senator Anietie Okon are crying wolf about non-existing political interference in the work of the tribunals, rather than addressing themselves to the critical issue of the card reader fraud that is hanging around the neck of PDP candidates in the elections like the Sword of Damocles. The question Nigerians expect Akwa Ibom PDP to provide an answer to is how they got the figure of 1,122,836 as total votes cast in the governorship election, more 997,000 of which were declared for their candidate, Mr Udom Emmanuel, whereas INEC card reader statistic showed that only 437,128 voters were accredited for the election, which the electoral empire had directed to be conducted exclusively through accreditation with the card reader.

15. These so-called elders who vicariously have the blood of innocent Akwa Ibom sons and daughters on their hands should be ignored by the good people of our dear state and all Nigerians of good conscience. The so-called elders were active collaborators in the rigging and killing that retained PDP in illegitimate power in the state without realising that there will be a day of reckoning. Now they are crying wolf. The God of retribution awaits them at the Temple of Justice.

Signed:

Atuekong Don Etiebet
Otuekong Sunny Jackson Udoh
Dr. Maurice Ebong
HE Nsima Ekere
Obong Rita Akpan
Dr. Ime Okopido
Chief Effiong Mkpubre