The Director General of the Akwa Ibom Goodluck Movement (AKGM), Dr Ekere Afia, has faulted the State Governor, Chief Godswill Akpabio, on the call for Governorship aspirants to meet with him on Friday, October 3, 2014.
According to Dr Afia, there are no Governorship aspirants yet as far as the 2015 gubernatorial elections is concerned.
The Director General, who spoke to journalists in Uyo, said those invited by the Governor are yet to declare their intention to contest the 2015 elections.
“For now, there is only one person in the whole country who has purchased the Expression of Interest Form. I think he is from Oyo State. That does not even make him an aspirant. He has to be screened by the Party Screening Committee and cleared before he is called, known and addressed as an aspirant.
So, it beats my imagination when our dear Governor calls a meeting of aspirants. What criteria is he using? Is it posters, billboards or media speculation.What will happen to those of them in the PDP from Uyo Senatorial District since the state chapter of the party has zoned them out of the race. Will they be allowed access to the meeting? “
Dr Afia said the Governor should wait till the so called aspirants purchased their Expression of Interest Forms, get screened and cleared by the party and stand elections, before calling them.
“We have been in this thing for long and we know that for several reasons, a lot of those people we are calling themselves aspirants will not even collect the Expression of Interest Form. Some will not make it through the screening. So, I think my dear Governor should not preempt these two critical stages of the 2015 race.”
The Director General, who said AKGM is a group campaigning for and urging President Goodluck Jonathan to vie for the position of President of Nigeria for a second term and Rt. Hon. Okpolupm Etteh for the Governorship of Akwa Ibom State, wondered how the various political parties invited to the meeting with the Governor were able to determine their list of aspirants when no aspirant has bought their Expression of Interest or Nomination Forms.
“It is like the case of placing the cart before the horse. We in AKGM are campaigning for President Goodluck Jonathan to go for a second term and Rt. Hon. Etteh to vie for the Governorship of Akwa Ibom State. For now, the two of them are yet to answer us. They are yet to declare. As long as they have not done that, we cannot call them aspirants. We keep praying and hoping that they will heed our call and declare to contest. Even when they declare to contest, they will still need to be cleared by the party. For President Jonathan, we know that he has already been chosen as a sole candidate. For Rt. Hon. Etteh, he needs to go for screening. So, we are surprised that our dear Governor is calling a meeting of aspirants when the process to become one is still in place,” he explained.
Dr Afia concluded by saying, “He has a right, though, as the Chief Security Officer of the state to call the meeting if the agenda is to be on how to ensure peaceful conduct before and during the primaries. He needs to meet them, probably with the Commissioner of Police, Director of State Security Service and other security chiefs. All these can only happen after the aspirants have been screened and cleared by their parties.”
Meanwhile, watchers of political events in the State are of the opinion that Akpabio’s call on aspirants is a display of ignorance with reference to Ekere Afia’s position.
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