Oron Union election debacle

* Ex- President-General says it was a Coup d’état
* Robinson Uwak, ors fingered 

That the recently conducted Oron Union election ended in a fiasco is no longer news, but perhaps what is the fresh angle of the entire saga is that the immediate past President-General of the apex Oro body, Chief (Barr) Okon D. Okon has finally broken the silence, describing the purported election as a coup d’état, sacrilege, abomination and assault on the good taste and intelligence of Oro people.

Speaking in an interview with journalists in his palatial residence in Oron, Chief (Barr) O.D Okon who has held the President–General position for two consecutive terms expressed shock and dismay that a lawmaker of national reckoning could brazenly interrupt the Oron Union Election, when he actually was neither a financial or executive member of Oron Union since its inception about 89 years ago.

Chief Okon who blamed the entire saga on what he described as ‘’the ignoble role of the member representing Oron Federal Constituency, Mr. Robinson Uwak, as well as ‘’the unsolicited interference ‘’ of the Chairman of Udung Uko local government, Mrs. Kenim Onofiok and her Okobo counterpart, Mrs. Felicia Bassey ,wondered why the trio decided to usurp the functions of a duly appointed three-man electoral body that was set to conduct free, fair and acceptable elections into various National Executive offices of Oron Union.

Chief Okon, a holder of various Oro Chieftaincy titles and President-General of Udung Uko Development Association pointedly stated that the constitution of Oron Union of (1996 as amended) clearly spells out in Article VIII, Section 21 DXIII the any person who is not an active and financial member of Oron Union shall not be a delegate/representative at the Annual General Meeting (AGM).
The immediate past President-General disclosed that as at the date of the Annual General Meeting/Elections of Oron Union on 28th of December, 2013, Mr. Uwak, Mrs. Onofiok and Mrs. Bassey were not registered or financial members of any of the Oro Union branches (worldwide).

Chief Okon further expressed shock and dismay that the three aforementioned persons decided to invade the venue of the AGM at Oron Civic Centre on the election day with their security operatives to forcefully grab the microphone from the duly appointed three-man electoral committee headed by Dr. Emmanuel Ekuwem, with Chief (Barr) Tony Ante and the Calabar branch president of the Union as Members.

On the way out of the quagmire, Chief O. D. Okon implored the Board of Trustees of the Union headed by Chief (Dr) Edet Amana, and former Police IG, Etim Inyang, among others as members, to urgently convene a crucial meeting of the stakeholders with a view to arriving at an amicable resolution, rather than outright legal action.

Also commenting, a frontline politician and opinion leader, Chief (Dr) Edet Ubokuloh (Edisco), opined that Mr. Robinson Uwak owes Oro people a duty to explain where he derived the authority to disrupt the Union’s AGM/election.
Chief Ubokuloh, a onetime chairman of Oron local government and president of the Home branch of the Union for two terms, while calling on the BOT to step in, also emphasized that it was alien for a non-registered member to invade the AGM, let alone, pose as a delegate.