Akwa Ibom guber, senatorial seat: Oron rejects one term

A group, Oron Ethnic Nationality of Akwa Ibom, State has rejected a term governorship tenure offered the nationality by Governor Godswill Akpabio to run from 2019 to 2023 after Mr. Udom Emmanuel’s one term between 2015 and 2019.

The group, the third largest ethnic group in the state, also rejected senatorial seat bribe in a meeting with the governor in Uyo on Sunday.
Daily Sun learned from a source at the meeting that the governor pleaded for support of Oron people, whom he described as his “minority brothers” to accord him support and understanding in his effort to instal Udom Emmanuel as his successor.
It was learnt that the meeting was held due to refusal of the immediate past attorney general and commissioner of justice, Mr Ekpenyong Ntekim to succumb to Akpabio’s entreaties that he should abandon his gubernatorial ambition and take up the Senate seat for Eket Senatorial District.
The source said Akpabio admitted in the meeting that he had pleaded with Ntekim to go to the Senate in exchange for a four-year ticket for his anointed aspirant, Mr. Emmanuel, but that Ntekim refused, and told the governor to convince the entire Oron people to forgo the governorship in 2015 since “governorship is communal while Senate is personal.”
In order to convince the Oron stakeholders, Akpabio was said to have vowed that Emmanuel would sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Oron people to handover to Oron after one term of four years, and that the MoU would be counter signed by him (Akpabio), Natioanl Chairman of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji Adamu Mu’azu and President Goodluck Jonathan.