NDDC MD, Bassey Dan-Abia ready to back APC, if tribunal nullifies Udom’s election

By Nse Peter

The Managing Director, Niger Delta Development Commission, Obong Bassey Dan-Abia has expressed his readiness to support the All Progressives Congress governorship candidate in Akwa Ibom State, Mr. Umana Okon Umana, if the Governorship Election Tribunal sitting in Abuja nullifies the election of Udom Emmanuel as governor, Akwa Ibom State.

The Akwa Ibom Governorship Election Tribunal resumes on Thursday, October 8, 2015 for the adoption of written addresses by counsels to the petitioner and the defendants, before it will set a new date to deliver its judgment in the petition filed by Umana against Governor Emmanuel, PDP and INEC.

Bassey Dan-Abia is said to have told his kinsmen in Esit Eket Local Government Area, Akwa Ibom State, during a recent stakeholders’ meeting in the area that for him to maintain his job as the MD of NDDC he has no option other than to support President Muhammadu Buhari’s party and also help deliver Akwa Ibom State for APC if the tribunal orders for fresh governorship election.

President Buhari won the March 28, 2015 presidential election on the platform of APC, while Dan-Abia is an influential member of PDP in Akwa Ibom State.

In Nigeria, those appointed into public offices are often at the mercy of the president, governor or whoever appointed them as the case may be.

A former senator from Eket Senatorial District who said he attended the Esit Eket stakeholders’ meeting told Think Akwa Ibom! that various leaders, including youth and women, who spoke at the meeting expressed understanding over Dan-Abia’s latest position on politics in Akwa Ibom State.

“In fact, everyone (at that meeting) came to a common conclusion that the only escape route for him (Dan-Abia) is for the tribunal to affirm the election of Udom Emmanuel. Except that happens, we are afraid, he has to support the president’s party. And we can’t blame him for that, because that is the dynamics of politics,” the former senator told Think Akwa Ibom! on Wednesday in Eket.

Asked if Governor Udom Emmanuel was aware of the possibility of Dan-Abia backing the APC governorship candidate, Umana, the former senator responded: “I can’t tell if he informed the governor. But I think it was necessary that he (Dan-Abia) consulted his own people first on such important and sensitive issue before discussing it with any other person.

“It is the tribunal verdict that we all are waiting for. It is the verdict which will determine the next political direction in the state. So, I strongly think it is wise to wait and pray for a favourable judgment at the tribunal.”

President Buhari recently sacked the NDDC board of directors, leaving behind the MD, Bassey Dan-Abia to run the commission, without a board.

Most Nigerians thought the President was going to fire Dan-Abia as well, in matters of days, after the sacking of the NDDC board.