You
ths of Akwa Ibom State under the aegis of Akwa Ibom Youth Caucus, have called on the public to be conscious of “the evil plans by APC leadership in the State to cause anarchy as well as politically motivated crimes.”
In a statement signed by the Chairman of the Akwa Ibom State Youth Caucus, Mr. Aniefiok Iwaudofia, the youths said “Ordinarily, we would not have joined issues or attach any importance to this, but from the experiences during the just concluded APC primaries in the state where two people were shot dead & there were total breakdown of laws & order in almost all the Local Government Areas, the Akwa Ibom State Youths under the auspices of Akwa Ibom State Youth Caucus, comprising of the State Youth Council, Dakkaka Ambassadors, Village Youths, Female Youths & Christian Youths have decided to bring to the fore by raising public consciousness about the evil plans by APC leadership in the State to cause anarchy as well as politically motivated crimes.”
“Therefore, we wish to emphatically state as follows: We are aware of the clandestine moves by the leadership of APC to cause mayhem & anarchy in Akwa Ibom State where a Sole Administrator will be appointed so as to help manipulate the 2019 elections in favour of opposition APC in the State.”
“The APC in the state have boosted that elections may not likely hold in Akwa Ibom simultaneously with other states. Their plans are to instigate political crises and civil unrest to a point INEC will be forced to postpone elections in Akwa Ibom State for security reasons to a later date with a view to deploying all security agencies in Nigeria (may be 100, 000 policemen) to the state to rig the elections like they did in Ekiti state since they have federal might (Police force, DSS, Army & Civil Defense in their pockets.) This is so because, they have boosted that INEC is in their pockets and that they will change all the INEC staff in Akwa Ibom State and bring in those that will help them rig the 2019 elections. We are not taking these boosts for granted and we assure them that we are ready and will wait for them with the people’s might which is stronger than the so called federal might. They have also boosted that all PDP leaders in the State will be arrested & harassed including Youth Leaders, Honourable Commissioners & major PDP stakeholders through thrum-up charges. They have also boasted that kidnappers & hired assassins would be brought into the state from neighbouring states to commerce politically motivated crimes targeted at PDP members. That they are about to use the federal might & it’s agencies like the EFCC & ICPC to arrest, intimidate & harass PDP members – all for the sake of rigging the 2019 election in favour of APC since they are not on ground. The APC have boosted that they will use the Ekiti State model in Akwa Ibom State where results were manipulated at the collation centres & fraudulently declared in favour of APC. They have also boosted that they will blackmail His Excellency, Gov. Udom Emmanuel against the President, Vice President & other top Government functionaries in order to demonize the Governor before the presidency.”
“That we want the Federal Government of Nigeria to note that Akwa Ibom State is the highest producer of crude oil & the highest revenue generating State for federal government where our money is used to develop other States & this is made possible by the prevailing peace in the state created by Governor Udom’s administration. That we will not fold our arms to watch APC apparatchiks instigate anarchy in the State just for sake of manipulating the 2019 elections in their favour. That APC in the State knows they are not on ground and don’t have the majority support & as such, they will lose the forthcoming general elections. Hence, the reason for this desperation. That we want to assure our dear Governor, Mr. Udom Emmanuel of our unalloyed support & loyalty based on his superlative performance. And that our Governor should not be distracted but remain focused and realize that it is ONLY GOD that gives power. That we want APC in Akwa Ibom State to note that the youths of Akwa Ibom State are solidly with Governor Udom Emmanuel and will cast their votes massively for him, protect and defend the votes at all the polling units, follow it up to respective collation centres & also make sure our votes are rightly counted, collated & announced by INEC. That as youths, we want to warn that we shall not be intimidated to fold our arms & watch the APC cause a breach of peace. Rather, we will do everything within the ambit of the law to defend the government of Gov. Udom Emmanuel which has brought the kind of peace we have never witnessed in Akwa Ibom State. That we want the public to know that the present crises rocking the Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly is caused by APC & their cohorts.”
“In fact, we want the public to realize that when the initial two members defected to APC few months ago, their seats were not declared vacant by the Honourable Speaker, Rt. Hon. Onofiok Luke. But out of misperception to stop the Speaker from declaring his seat vacant even when the speaker had no such contemplations as it were, Hon. Idongesit Ituen went to court. However, after the outcome of the case, the Speaker was compelled by the declarative judgement of the Federal High Court against the plaintiff ( Hon. Idongesit Ituen ) which was later applied to other defectors. That the appropriate thing for Hon. Idongesit Ituen & his co- political travellers would have been to appeal & seek a redress in court of second instance rather than bringing miscreants & thugs to invade the Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly & destroyed the properties of the Assembly. It is most laughable that Hon. Nse Ntuen has made himself public ridicule, odium & contempt by claiming to be a new speaker with just four members out of twenty six legislators. We know he is only acting a script written by APC leaders in their desperation to install their surrogate & begin hegemonic system that will ultimately perfect the popular “Warsaw saw War” strategy. We wish to use this opportunity to salute the doggedness & sense of uncommon courage displayed by the speaker, Rt. Hon. Onofiok Luke for standing on the side of justice & acting in accordance with the principles of rule of law. On this note, we specifically commend our son, Distinguished Senator Obong Bassey Albert Akpan for drawing the attention of the Nigerian Senate on the dastard act. We appreciate the Senate of the Federal Republic for rising to the occasion.”
“That we are aware of the planned intimidation by security forces in the State as boosted by APC Apparatchiks. To justify our claims, on that fateful day of the invasion of the State House of Assembly, the APC boosted that they are going to remove the Commissioner of Police and bring a new one that will come to do their biddings, & true to their boosts, the Commissioner of police was removed few hours thereafter. That as law abiding youths, we appeal to all security agencies in the State not to act or be seen as an extension of APC. Whereas the state security agencies should remain apolitical & always exhibit high degree of professionalism. We shall resist any attempt by the so called Federal Might ( Police, DSS, Army, Civil Defence & other security agencies to manipulate the 2019 elections with our last blood. For us as the reform-minded youths who are driven by sense of responsibility, mental confidence & pious, we view the threat to peace orchestrated by APC in the State in collaboration with external force at the centre (Federal Might) to cause political disharmony in the State so that they may gain political advantage to introduce jackboot governance, repression & monarchical system.”
“It is so disheartening that NDDC which is supposed to be an interventionist agency to complement the efforts of Government is now used as conduit pipe to siphon funds for the APC electioneering campaigns. We strongly call on all the international agencies such as ECOWAS, African Union, European Union, United Nations, US & UK to be watchful of these evil plans by the APC in the State. As law abiding citizens, we urge the lazy and idle youths groomed by the APC for the next election to refrain from political thuggery/hooliganism & grasp the window of industrial revolution & opportunities made possible by the political exploits of Gov. Udom Emmanuel. Lastly, we wish to strongly State that the gentility of the lion doesn’t connotes cowardice & as such, the APC should not take our peaceful disposition for granted. We therefore urge all the peace-loving youths of Akwa Ibom State to continue to remain calm, law abiding and support the government of Governor Udom Emmanuel, for with him as our governor till 2023, the future of every Akwa Ibom Youth is secured,” the statement concluded.
