By Akaninyene EKONG
Chairman of the House Committee on Rural Development and Public Utilities and member representing Esit Eket/Ibeno State Constituency in the Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly, Dr Usoro Akpanusoh, has reacted to the imbroglio that characterized the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Congresses in Esit Eket, saying “It is Elder Benji Udobia’s predetermined goal to uproot and destroy the party in the area.”
He said the alleged scene that marred the selection process of the PDP structure in the area was part of plots to scheme Esit Eket and its people in the forthcoming Local Government Council elections and 2023 by the Elder Udobia and his cohorts.
According to our source, a chieftain of the PDP in the area, Pastor Emmanuel Etim, “Elder Udobia’s guest and annoyance is that Dr Usoro Akpanusoh, a two-term member of the State Assembly, has dared him to insist for political inclusiveness and total cohesion in the party structure of Esit Eket.”
Another source, Chief Edoho Edoho, who spoke with our reporter, said “from the look of things, Elder Udobia is determine to use his position and closeness to the corridors of power to destroy PDP in the bid of fighting the House member, Rt. Hon. Usoro Akpanusoh, a man who has been a financier of the PDP from inception in Esit Eket. He is playing to the gallery due to his interest in the Local Government Council election that might take place in this year and he is playing the politics of 2023 in 2020. In playing that, Elder Benji Udobia has thrown caution to the wind.”
Reacting further to the situation, Dr Akpanusoh said “If you want to go down memory lane, you will know that it is only God that has kept us together. We could have gone our different ways many years ago because as a young man without parents I decided to adopt Elder Benji Udobia as a father. Surprisingly, he has refused to be one. He has not been honest to me from day one. He betrayed me in 2001, same thing in 2015 and 2019.”
“So, every time I try to give him that respect, even when I am being suppressed, he will always betray me. The last Ward Congress was the height of his highhandedness and betrayal. I am a member of the State House of Assembly. I know my contribution to some of the projects my political leader is doing. I contributed over N120 million to my party in the 2019 elections. I did that because I needed people to come back to the party. I did that because Esit Eket was written off due to major defections caused by the same Elder Benji Udobia,”” he added.
