Mr. Udom Ekpoudom (retd. ), the APC senatorial district candidate for Akwa Ibom North-West Senatorial District in the 2023 general election, has vowed that he will not relinquish the APC senatorial district ticket he won on May 27, 2022 to Senator Godswill Akpabio or anyone else, no matter the pressure.
Mr. Stephen Ntuekpo, the party’s state chairman, claimed that the national headquarters of the party directed him to conduct a fresh primary on June 8, 2022, citing security infractions in the district’s May 27 primary, which produced Senator Akpabio, the former Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, as the winner, with 478 votes out of 512 accredited delegates.
However, Ekpoudum’s campaign Director-General, Hon. Uwem Udoma; Secretary, Obong Etokakpan; and the campaign’s Director of Media and Publicity, Peter Idiong, issued a statement on Sunday calling the June 8, 2022 midnight primary that produced senator Godswill a “scam, unconstitutional, deceptive, and legally defective.”
The message reassured APC senatorial district members that he will “under no circumstances, relinquish, withdraw, or be substituted, regardless of the degree of pressure and inducement dangling by anyone.”
According to the statement, the mandate freely and expressly given to him to run for senator on the APC ticket next year is not a commodity that can be bought and sold.
“The 2023 DIG Udom Ekpoudom Senatorial Campaign Organisation has observed an absurd, ridiculous and highly provocative conspiracy with respect to the APC Akwa Ibom North-West Senatorial District Senate primary election, validly won by Udom Ekpoudom. We vehemently wish to reiterate and state as follows;
“That DIG Udom Ekpoudom, the Standard Bearer is a very disciplined, cultured and law-abiding citizen with the national toga of Officer of Niger, hence, he has a high regards for extant laws of any establishment.
“Recall that Ekpoudom duly participated in the Akwa Ibom North-West APC Senatorial District Primary Election held on Friday, May 27, 2022, in line with the 2023 Election Timetable and guideline of our party.
“Succinctly, the primary election was properly monitored by INEC as constitutionally required and Udom Ekpoudom, was victorious and declared the winner and the party’s flagbearer.
“Sequel to the aforementioned, we want to state categorically and without any ambiguity, that at no time did our party, the APC put our candidate on notice of any cancellation of the primary election or that of conducting another senatorial primary for the Akwa Ibom North-West senatorial seat,” the statement read in part.
The campaign organization promised that the mandate given to Udom Ekpoudom to run in the senatorial race next year would be carefully maintained and protected.
“The purported “scam election” held on Thursday, June 8, 2022, at the Skills Acquisition Centre in Ikot Ekpene, is nothing but illegal, deceitful, unconstitutional, and legally defective,” the statement further said.
