Akwa Ibom State PDP accuses the APC and the Buhari Government of illegally taking control of apparatus of Akwa Ibom State.

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Akwa Ibom State has accused the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Buhari Government of illegally taking control of apparatus of Akwa Ibom State.

Obong Paul Ekpo, PDP State Chairman, told journalists Thursday evening that the plot which had the alleged backing of security agencies was to make the state ungovernable and possibly declare a state of emergency to pave way for easy manipulations of election results in 2019.

He recalled that on Monday, November 19, the party received and subsequently published intelligence report on the plans by the APC to illegally prevent the sitting of the Akwa Ibom House of Assembly, using thugs and political miscreants.

Ekpo said: “Just as the intelligence at our disposal had clearly shown, as early as 7am, buses bearing insignia of the opposition APC led by known chieftains of their political coven appeared at the gate of the Assembly and set up bonfire, preventing human and vehicular traffic and seeking to prevent the lawful business of the state legislature.

“On the intervention of the police, the Speaker of the House led members into the Chambers and resumed legislative duties. At the sitting, the Speaker evoked the provision of section 109(2) which empowers him to declare the seats of those who had infringed upon section 109(1)(g) and accordingly declared their seats vacant.

“This decision by the Speaker to declare the seats which has a precedent in 2014, became the avenue for the All Progressive Congress to commence their long planned desire of unleashing violence and hooliganism on a legal institution of the state as a prelude to making the state ungovernable preparatory to the 2019 elections.

“We wish to state that as at the time the APC agents and thugs invaded the Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly, There was no stay of execution issued by any court of law against the speaker in respect of Idongesit Ituen’s case.

“After the judgment of the court was delivered, the enrolled order (summary of the judgment) was served on the office of the Honorable Speaker and the Clerk of the House. The language of this order of the court was that compliance should be given with IMMEDIATE EFFECT.

“The PDP, and indeed Akwa ibom people are not by any means intimidated by these machinations of the APC-led Federal Government which is intended to help them achieve their selfish aim of illegally and forcefully capturing Akwa Ibom State as we are sure that this will fail. Just like they have repeatedly failed to achieve whatever aim they hoped to achieve with the constant and continuous change of heads of Security agents in the State, their ultimate plan of derailing the machinery of governance in our state and maybe sacrifice the lives of Akwa Ibom people in the bid to achieve their heinous objective will fail.

“It is pertinent to note that we have uncovered a fresh plot by the APC to use the EFCC to clamp down on Akwa Ibom State Government accounts. This is another desperate attempt by the APC to paralyze the activities of the government of Akwa Ibom State.

“Recall that Akwa Ibom State; despite being adjudged as the safest state in Nigeria has had a very high turnover of Police Commissioners. This is a clear indication of the manipulation of the APC as a prelude to activating intelligence report reaching us on the planned assassination attempts of some high-ranking PDP and Akwa Ibom State government officials.

“The PDP and indeed Akwa Ibom people are not ignorant of the fact that all these preliminary machinations by the APC are just mere schemes to drag Governor Udom Emmanuel on a collision course with President Mohammadu Buhari, GCFR, so as to attract sympathy for the deployment of Federal might immediately before and during the elections.”