PRESS STATEMENT
APC rally: Nsima Ekere never spoke ill of Akpabio
The attention of Obong Nsima Ekere, Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), has been drawn to a false and irresponsible publication in an online news portal, Opera News, alleging that Obong Ekere had threatened to probe the administration of former Governor Godswill Akpabio and jail the Senate Minority Leader when the APC takes over the government of Akwa Ibom State in 2019. The false report claimed that Obong Ekere made the threat in his speech at the recent APC rally organised by Ikot Ekpene Senatorial District (ISD) in Ikot Ekpene to mobilise support for President Muhammadu Buhari’s second term bid.
Though this claim of a threat against Akpabio is false, silly, irrelevant and completely unworthy of the attention of serious minded people, we feel there is need for this rebuttal for reason of history. For the avoidance of doubt, we want to state categorically that Obong Ekere did not make any critical, much less threatening, remarks about former Governor Akpabio during the rally in Ikot Ekpene. Any claim to the contrary is completely false and unfounded. In his 12-minute speech, Obong Ekere had however stated, to the applause of the crowd, that he was a member of the Akpabio government that initiated the Uyo-Ikot Ekpene Road and the Sheraton Hotel project in Ikot Ekpene, which the Udom Emmanuel administration had failed to put to use. In addition, Obong Ekere also thanked the people of Ikot Ekpene Senatorial District for supporting his nomination as Deputy Governor in 2011. The text of Obong Ekere’s speech at the Ikot Ekpene rally is in the public domain and can be checked for confirmation.
The reasons for the unceasing efforts by the opposition at distorting proceedings at the APC rally in Ikot Ekpene are many, but a mention of a few will lay bare the motivation for the mischief. The rally has rankled to this moment because it was the best proof that the PDP has lost Ikot Ekpene Senatorial District, whom the current administration has studiously neglected and denied. The rally was not good news to the PDP and the State government because its reverberating success was a sharp contrast to the fiasco which the PDP rally a week earlier on the same grounds in the same Ikot Ekpene Senatorial District turned out to be.
While the APC rally is noted for its coherent messaging in solidarity with President Buhari and unanimous calls for Obong Nsima Ekere to run for Governor, the PDP rally was a quarrelsome bedlam in which the Governor, who is leader of the PDP in the State, was roundly attacked by the leaders of Ikot Ekpene Senatorial District for his poor performance in office.
We would like the public to note that the tantrums being thrown around by the Akwa Ibom State PDP because of the resoundingly successful APC rally is born of their colossal failure in Ikot Ekpene Senatorial District. They are to be pitied. Their lies should be ignored.
Utibe Ukim
SA on Public Communications to Obong Nsima Ekere
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