A’Ibom PDP primary: Oro to defect to opposition party – The Nation newspaper

Gov. Akpabio (L) with Mr. Udom Emmanuel

Irked by the alleged manipulation of the Akwa Ibom State Peoples Democratic Party’s (PDP’s) governorship primary, the people of Oro, the third largest ethnic group in the state, have threatened to defect to another party.
But they promised to put their threat on hold, if the party’s national leadership cancelled the primary.

The Oro had threatened to defect to the All Progressives Congress (APC), if PDP upheld the result of the primary.

The position of the Oro, who occupy five of the 12 local government areas in the oil-rich belt of Eket Senatorial District, spoke through their apex socio-cultural organisation, Oron Union.

In a statement yesterday in Uyo, the state capital, by the former Nigerian Ambassador to Greece, Dr. Etim Uye, the vice-president, Chief Ulo Ante Uye, among others, the Oro said their defection plan was a way of showing their grievances against the Goodswill Akpabio administration.

They presented a three-point demand to PDP’s national leadership to consider.

These include the cancellation of the “flawed PDP governorship primary conducted in Akwa Ibom State” and the constitution of a new panel comprising men and women of integrity, who could be depended on to act according to the law.

They said: “In the alternative and considering the limitation in time imposed by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) election time-table, a consensus candidate be sourced from the list of Akwa Ibom State aspirants with special attention on aspirants of Oro extraction, taking into account the issues concerning zoning and sharing of political power in Akwa Ibom State.

“An issue, which has been a subject of passionate memoranda and agitations by the Oro, is to be accorded their merited turn to occupy the governorship seat in Akwa Ibom State. In the event of the neglect of our position by the national leadership of the PDP to correct the obvious anomaly perpetuated against us, the people of Oro will be left with no alternative than to join a political party and platform we believe will accommodate our interest and aspirations.”

They decried the alleged impunity and callousness with which Akpabio orchestrated, organised and implemented the unconscionable deprivation of their fundamental and democratic rights during governorship primary.

According to them, the event was televised live to the world to give credence to the fraud unleashed against Oro people.

The statement reads: “In the said Akwa Ibom State PDP governorship primary, every Oro candidate was denied the opportunity to be chosen as the standard-bearer of that political party. In the light of this deliberate alienation, Oro is now routed and considered irrelevant in the scheme of political activities.

“Oro people have been loyal and active participants and contributors to the success of PDP since its inception in 1998, in Nigeria and Akwa Ibom State in particular till date. It will therefore be calamitous if the PDP national leadership condones the mindless and grave injustices visited on Oro by an ingrate governor.”

Culled from The Nation newspaper