Resign Your Senatorial Ambition – Ekpenyong Tells Akpabio, Says People Have Rejected Him

The senator representing Akwa Ibom North-West, Ikot Ekpene senatorial district, Dr Chris Ekpenyong, has told All Progressives Congress (APC) senatorial candidate, Godswill Akpabio to resign from his senatorial ambition or face losing again in 2023.

According to him, Akpabio should not bother about contesting at all because the people of the senatorial district have rejected him and he will lose just like he did in 2019 if he doesn’t yield to his warning. Naija News reports that Ekpenyong in a statement signed by his press secretary, Providence Essien, noted that Akpabio’s ambition to become a senator in the Ikot Ekpene senatorial district is only a dream that can’t come true, adding that only a man “who is still living in his false dreams after many years of being rejected by the electorate” can think so. His reaction follows Akpabio’s claim that he won the 2019 election but the results were allegedly manipulated in favour of Ekpenyong. Recall that the former minority leader at the recent inauguration of the Campaign Council for the Ikot Ekpene senatorial district last Thursday said “The people of Ikot Ekpene Senatorial District want to use this election to prove to the world that their son, Senator Godswill Akpabio, won the senatorial election in 2019 but the results were manipulated against him and one of those who took part in that heinous crime, is today cooling off in prison. “The outcome of that election was taken to Uyo against what the law says and the rest is now history. Another opportunity now beckons for the good people of Ikot Ekpene Senatorial District to prove a point, that their votes were for me in 2019. “Let me also caution our supporters. Whoever brings money to you, collect it but vote your conscience because your vote will surely count this time around. Don’t swear to any fetish oath. Vote APC all the way. Don’t allow the ongoing court case challenging the candidacy of Obong Akan Udofia to deter you, he remains the candidate of the party,” Akpabio had said. In his response to Akpabio’s claim, Ekpenyong noted that it is unfortunate that he (Akpabio) has forgotten so soon that the 2012 election was against the people, and the same will happen in 2023. Naija News also learnt that Ekpenyong continued saying “The attention of the Senator representing Ikot Ekpene Senatorial District in the National Assembly, has been drawn to a false allegation made by the defeated Warsaw general, Godswill Akpabio where he claimed he won the 2019 Ikot Ekpene Senatorial election and was shortchanged. “For the avoidance of doubt and in order to set the record straight, the Distinguished Senator wishes to state the following: Senator Godswill Akpabio should not forget that he was defeated twice in the 2019 Ikot Ekpene Senatorial District election: first at the general election and second, at the rerun to the glory of God to whom he (Akpabio) was equating himself. “The event of the 2019 election was a case of a man against the people and the will of the people won; Akpabio should not forget that prior to that election which he lost, he had likened the election to a football match between Akwa United and Arsenal, in which by the grace of God Akwa United won Arsenal United. “That the people of Ikot Ekpene Senatorial District would not have voted for a man who was generally rejected, even by his people in Essien Udim local government where he also lost; and as an elder brother to Akpabio, I will like to advise the former governor to forget about contesting next year’s election. Ikot Ekpene Senatorial District cannot choose the selfish and self-centred interest of a single man over and above the brotherhood and peaceful coexistence of the Senatorial District. “That we in Ikot Ekpene federal constituency and other federal constituencies in the Senatorial District cannot cheat our brothers in Abak 5 now that it is their turn to produce a senator. “That Senator Godswill Akpabio should stop using reverse psychology on the people. This same method he used in the past cannot work again. He should face the truth – this is the turn of Abak 5 and no amount of his public tears can reverse this decision of the people. “That Senator Akpabio should go and rest. The people said so in 2019 through the ballot and will say the same again in 2023; Godswill Akpabio should step aside and allow Abak 5 to take their turn and stop this joke he is going around cracking because it will not work,” the statement reads in part.

This article was originally published on Naija News