The All Progressives Congress candidate for the Akwa Ibom North-West Senatorial district in the forthcoming 2023 general elections and former Deputy Inspector General of Police, Mr Udom EKpoudom (retd.), has vowed not to relinquish the APC senatorial ticket he won on May 27, 2022 to Senator Godswill Akpabio or anyone, no matter the pressure mounted on him.
The state chairman of the party in the state, Mr Stephen Ntuekpo, citing security infractions in the May 27, 2022 APC primary in the district, had claimed he was directed to conduct a fresh primary on June 8, 2022.
The fresh primary produced the former Minister of the Niger Delta Affairs, Akpabio, as the winner; having scored a total of 478 votes out of 512 accredited delegates.
But a statement on Sunday by the Director-General of Ekpoudum’s campaign, Obong Etokakpan; and the campaign’s Director of Media and Publicity, Peter Idiong, described the June 8, 2022 midnight primary that produced Akpabio as a “scam that is unconstitutional, deceitful and legally defective.”
The statement assured the APC members in the senatorial district that he will “under no circumstance, relinquish, withdraw or be substituted no matter the degree of pressure and inducement dangled by anyone.”
But Akpabio, in statement on Sunday by his Chief Press Secretary, Jackson Udom, said Ekpoudum was probably not aware of the notification of cancellation and order of a fresh election because he belonged to a faction of the party which is not recognised by the Independent National Electoral Commission and the national leadership of the party.
According to him, the authentic leadership of the party in the state is led by Stephen Ntukekpo.
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