2015 governorship: I did not endorse Udom Emmanuel – Prof. Des Wilson

Mr. Udom Emmanuel

Prof. Des Wilson has denied media reports that he has endorsed Udom Emmanuel, the Peoples Democratic Party governorship candidate in Akwa Ibom State.

Des Wilson, a renowned communication arts teacher in the University of Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, made this known in a message he posted, Saturday, on an Internet discussion group known as Ibom Forum hoisted under Yahoo! platform. He was reacting to the controversy that has trailed the reported endorsement of Mr. Udom Emmanuel by Ekid Peoples Union which he (Wilson) was in attendance.

Governor Godswill Akpabio’s Senior Special Assistant on Media, Mr. Usoro Usoro had rejected the Eket Peoples Union’s endorsement of the PDP governorship candidate immediately the story of the endorsement went public, describing it as ‘late night support’ and ‘a ploy for them to falsely claim goodies from Udom tomorrow’. “Udom needs no empty endorsement now; what he needs is for those big men to go out and vote on that day,” Usoro said through a post on Facebook.

“That shows the kind of leaders we have in Eket. They wait for others to toil, then (they) appear when the meal is ready with big bowls so they can feed their entire household to the detriment of others,” Usoro said in the Facebook post, apparently unhappy that the leaders of Ekid Peoples Union which includes its president, Prof. Asindi A. Asindi General Anthony Etukudo(Rtd) and Prof. Des Wilson had waiting for that long before the endorsement of Mr. Emmanuel, besides their initial support for other PDP aspirants.

It is not clear if Prof. Des Wilson is a member of the Eket Peoples Union or not, even though he is a respectable leader from Eket.

Sounding embarrassed, Prof. Des Wilson said the organisers of the meeting in Eket invited him to only listen to Udom Emmanuel, and not for any endorsement. He said despite raising his hand and voice he was not allowed to speak because those who were behind the meeting knew that he would oppose what they were doing.

Wilson said he refused to collect ‘appreciation envelope’ – a euphemism for bribe given to politicians in return for their pledge for political support – from the Udom Emmanuel’s men, and that he also refused to take drinks or sign the attendance register at the meeting.

“I left that meeting angry and unhappy that I had been made to form part of a captive audience in an insidious political game,” said the university teacher who described him as being a critic of Mr. Udom Emmanuel. “My quarrel with his candidacy had always been that not only did he emerge through the hands of the devil but also was the process that threw him up patently undemocratic and unfair.”

Wilson however faulted Usoro’s statements as hurting Udom Emmanuel and Ekid people. He said the governor’s aide should have made political capital from Ekid Peoples Union’s endorsement of Udom Emmanuel, instead of using it to ridicule the elders whom he may need tomorrow.