AKWA IBOM POLITICS: SENATOR ALOYSIUS ETOK OFFICIALLY DUMPS PDP, GETS APC MEMBERSHIP CARD

WITH barely less than fifteen months into the President Muhammadu Buhari’s led administration, the senator who represented Ikot Ekpene Senatorial district in the National Assembly has officially dumped the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for the All Progressives Congress (APC).
The former lawmaker along with his teeming supporters and core loyalists, on Tuesday stormed Ikono Ward 10 to officially declare for the All Progressives Congress, APC.
Etok, who spoke at the Ward secretariat of the APC, justified his action, saying the interests of Ikono people as well as the entire Akwa Ibom State would be better served in the APC.
Etok, who joined PDP since 1998, disclosed that but for the fear of the unknown, he would have joined the APC before the 2015 general elections.
Expressing optimism that the remaining PDP members in the state would soon join the APC, he said: “It is, indeed, unfortunate that the PDP which used to be known for fairness and ability to accommodate different shades of opinion has been hijacked by a few people. In the party today, impunity is the order of the day.
Founding members, who made the party popular to the mass of our people, have been given the short shrift. “The ungodly syndicate that has taken over the PDP has displayed unprecedented high-handedness, crude arrogance and phenomenal perfidy.
In most cases, unpopular decisions are taken by these few individuals and imposed on the party without consideration for dissenting voices.
“A case in point is the current battle of supremacy between two factions at both the national and state leadership of the Peoples’ Democratic Party.
Primordial and sentimental considerations are given priority over and above competence and fairness, which had been the norm of the party in the past.
“Some of us joined the PDP in Akwa Ibom State since 1998 and we have been very hardworking and loyal to the party – even at extremely difficult times. We have also won elections at different levels for the party.
But the present situation of betrayal and arrogance in the PDP has become so unbearable that we have come to the conclusion that it is in the best interest of our people that we quit the PDP.” He promised to strengthen APC in Ikono Ward 10 and Akwa Ibom State in general.
Akwa Ibom State APC Deputy Chairman, Ikot Ekpene Senatorial District, Chief Kufre Inyangette, who received the defector, said that it was heartwarming that the people of Akwa Ibom are now ready to embrace the change philosophy of the APC.
Inyangette, who handed brooms to the defector, maintained that Akwa Ibom and Ikono would achieve the desired growth and development under Buhari-led administration.
The Ward chairman of APC, Mr. Mfon Akpan while handing over the party’s membership card to Sen. Aloysius Etok, encouraged him to strengthen the party at the ward level as well as bringing more dividends of democracy closer to the people. Akpan urged the defector to respect the rules of the party.