APC Gives up on Akwa Ibom, as members Campaign for Jonathan And Udom Emmanuel
Ahead of the general election come February 14th and 28 2015, the ambition of the gubernatorial candidate of the All Progressives Congress, APC, in Akwa Ibom State, Mr Umana Okon Umana has taken a plunge following recent revelations that the national leadership of APC has given up on its desire to win Akwa Ibom State.
The revelation followed a recent publication by THE NATION Newspaper owned by the APC National Leader, Ashiwaju Bola Tinubu, and seen as the propaganda wing of the Party, which conceded that the
Party cannot win Akwa Ibom State.
It would be recalled that THE NATION Newspaper in its edition of January 25, 2015 drew a map of Nigeria and in the South-South conceded Akwa Ibom, Cross River, Delta and Bayelsa States to PDP while it conceded Edo to APC and claimed River State would be a battleground between the two parties.
With the publication by THE NATION, analysts believe it was an indication that the APC has given up on Akwa Ibom State, this is even as members of the Party in Akwa Ibom State have consistently pledged their support for President Goodluck Jonathan to win the state, claiming that they were only gunning for other positions in the state since majority of them are those who were denied tickets by the PDP.
Recently, the Senator representing Akwa Ibom North, who defected to the APC after he could not win the primaries in PDP said despite defecting to APC he cannot support General Muhamadu Buhari. Senator Enang was quoted as saying: “I am working for the APC to ensure that it wins governorship election down to any other Position. I will only work for Jonathan for Presidency,” he said.
Also recently, Mr Iboro Otongaran, the Director of Media and Publicity for the APC gubernatorial candidate in Akwa Ibom State, Mr Umana Okon Umana in a widely published article: “Buhari is too unstable to be President” had dismissed the ambition of the APC Presidential candidate as “neither patriotic nor competent.”
According to the APC Campaign Spokesman, “The outburst by General Mohammadu Buhari, presidential aspirant of the All Progressives Congress (APC), if anything, has cemented the well founded concern that the former military strongman is too unstable to be President of Nigeria. Buhari let go his emotion, which was a doomsday wish for the nation, as is his nature, during a rally of the APC in Kaduna last week. It was vintage Buhari—completely oblivious of concern for consequences or of his place in history,” Mr Otongaran wrote.
Analysts believe that the sentiments by Senator Enang and Mr Otongaran reflect the thinking of most people in the state that General Buhari and the APC can never garner up to five percent of the votes in Akwa Ibom State. It is widely believed that most members of the opposition would return to the APC after the election has been won and lost.
Already the APC, sensing defeat has cancelled all her campaigns in
the State on Friday because of the visit of President Goodluck Jonathan
