PDP in A’Ibom ‘filled with usurpers, gold diggers’, says ex-Assembly man, Ukana Bassey

Obong Paul Ekpo, State Chairman, PDP, Akwa Ibom State

By Nse Peter

A former member of the Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly, Dr. Ukana Bassey has said that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Akwa Ibom State today is “filled with usurpers, gold diggers, and turn coats”.

Ukana Bassey who had represented Nsit Ibom State Constituency in the State House of Assembly during the administration of Governor Victor Attah, said in a message posted on his Facebook page recently, that those who founded PDP in Akwa Ibom have been sadly excluded from the affairs of the party in the state today.
PDP in Akwa Ibom State has been plagued by protracted crises since Chief Godswill Akpabio took over as the governor of the state in 2007. Several party big shots, including former governor, Victor Attah, and Atuekong Don Etiebet, both of them founding members and current BoT members of PDP, have been at loggerhead with Governor Akpabio. The politics of who succeeds Akpabio as the next governor of the state in 2015 is causing more intense political battles and divisions within the party in the state.

A house that is divided against itself cannot stand, Dr. Ukana Bassey said.

“Where are the founding members of the party? This was a party that was structured on basically a handful of leaders. Where are they today? Where are the leaders that were present in Atuekong Don Obot Etiebiet’s residence in Ewet Housing Estate (Uyo) on the night of consensus candidate deliberations?” asked Dr. Bassey, rhetorically. 

‘The night of consensus candidate deliberations’ referred to by Ukana Bassey was the converge in 1999 of all the PDP governorship aspirants in Akwa Ibom State at the Uyo residence of Don Etiebet for the selection of consensus candidate to fly the party’s flag in the 1999 governorship election as the General Abdusalami Abubarkar-led military government was preparing to hand over power to civilians. It was in the meeting that other PDP aspirants, including Benjamin Okoko from Ikot Abasi, stepped down for Obong Victor Attah to emerge as a consensus candidate of PDP.

Ukana Bassey said PDP then was able to foster a sense of belonging to every member even when one was aggrieved, and that the party today “rests more on participation by exclusion”.

“I hear politicians in Uyo say that for one to climb up, one must pull someone else down. That is the politics of the PDP today,” said Dr. Bassey who now practise medicine in the United States.

Ukana Bassey blames Victor Attah for what has befallen PDP in Akwa Ibom State.

“Blame? Victor Attah! Yes I daresay. He started it all. We all know the history after the consensus affair,” he said.

“We must against all odds relate and revert to the founders of the party so the spirit of the umbrella would cover all members otherwise next government will see the continuation of the trend.”