The gubernatorial candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) in the just concluded general elections, in Akwa Ibom State, Arc. Ezekiel Nya-Etok has urged Akwa Ibom people, especially the political class to avoid transferred aggression from the incident governor that may lead to unnecessary hatred for the governor-elect of the state, Pastor Umo Eno.
The renowned Architect, who has made his footprint in Nigeria and Africa as far as housing is concerned made the call during a thank you interactive session with select journalists in his Edet Akpan Avenue Uyo campaign office at the weekend.
“Umo Eno is my very good friend, he has called me to bring what I have and let us work for the state. I will not tell you what I told him but my point is: those who have problems with Udom Emmanuel, should not transfer their aggressions to Umo Eno.
“If you hate Umo Eno, let it be that you know what he has done wrong. I don’t believe in transferred aggression. I can tell you that I remain a good friend to all the candidates of the just concluded gubernatorial election in the state. Even when Senator Bassey Albert was thrown into prison, I visited him, we remain, good friends, because none of them has done anything wrong to me.
“I have nothing against Umo Eno, if you love the state, you should do everything to ensure that whoever is the ultimate winner has a good support system to work well for the good of the state “. Etok stated.
Nya-Etok, who has contested for the soul of the state many times without headway, says the government should be run based on principles of best practices and reasons that the Governor-elect needs hard, intelligent and mature minds in his executive cabinet to succeed as the next governor of the state.
“Umo Eno needs hard and mature minds to succeed. He needs a support base that is not exploitative. He has to be able to say no to certain practices. He has to be focused and confident in himself or else he will fail”. He advised.
Asked if he would accept an engagement in Umo Eno’s administration to bring his wealth of knowledge and good governance ideology to bare for the good of the people, Etok replied: “I don’t know who sent you, but I repeat: I cannot work with any Governor who is not focused and have confidence in himself. I am not afraid to take any appointments but I would prefer to work as a consultant.
“The only appointment that would be hard for me to turn down is if it has to do with the youths. Moulding the youths of the state is my passion but it has to start with signing the Akwa Ibom Youths Development Bill. I am always set out to be an example for the youths”. Arc. Etok expressed.
He noted that from his research result during the gubernatorial campaigns, the biggest problem in the state presently is youth unemployment, saying that if they are gainfully employed, there would be no cases of armed robbery, thuggery, molestations and such vices.
The candidate who said he was yet to decide whether to go to the election petition tribunal to challenge his party’s result at the pools hinted that most of the people who go to Court, are not there to reclaim their mandate but to seek justice to put their records straight.
Arc. Nya-Etok believes that if his votes at the units were sincerely recorded and transmitted to the INEC portal, he would have scored over 50, 000 votes to be the 4th and not the 6th on the INEC gubernatorial ballot result.
He said he was reliably informed that in Ikono/Ini federal constituency where he hails from, he had a good number of votes but was given zero in almost all the units. Also, A church in Oron’s local government area where his deputy hails from, Holiness and Revival Ministries with over 10, 000 members gave him all their votes but he had on 1685 votes in total.
According to Etok, who sounds not too aggrieved, though with serious reservations about the Judicial system in the country, he is still considering and expecting express instructions from God to either go to Court to seek justice and claim his votes or not, looking at the stress and financial implications.
“I am smart enough to have all documents processed and team put together to beat the 14 days dateline if we have the permissive will of God to seek justice”. He maintained.
