A’Ibom PDP blasts APC over alleged N2.5b bribe to INEC boss

THE chairman of Akwa Ibom State Chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party, (PDP), Paul Ekpo, has denied the allegation by the All Progres­sives Congress (APC) that the immediate past governor of the state, Godswill Akpa­bio allgedly bribed the state Resident Electoral Commis­sioner, Mr Austin Okojie with N2.5 billion to frustrate the electoral petitions by the APC.

In a statement issued by Ekpo and made available to the Daily Sun yesterday, the PDP described as “false, spu­rious and baseless, the alleg­tion by the Akwa Ibom state chapter of the APC, accusing the former governor of the state, now a senator,” of giv­ing bribe.

Counsel to Umana Umana, the APC governorship candi­date in the last gubernatorial election, and former attorney general and commissioner for justice in the state, Vic­tor Iyanam, had in a petition dated July 8, 2015, addressed to the Director General of the Department of State Security, and the Inspector General of Police, accused Mr Okojie of collecting the bribe from Ak­pabio in order to work against APC’s interest and that of its governorship candidate at the election tribunal.

But, reacting to the allega­tion, Ekpo, who described it as ridiculous, observed that while it was not necessary to join issues with APC, which he said is reputed to thrive on propaganda and blackmail, it was however pertinent to set the records straight so that the unsuspecting members of the public would not be misled and misinformed by the party.

Ekpo said the bribe story only existed in the imagina­tion of its authors; and chal­lenged the APC to present evidence of how the alleged sum of N2.5 Billion was dis­bursed to INEC officials by the state government, includ­ing the person(s) and chan­nels it was transmitted.

The PDP chairman lam­basted the APC for what he termed “its provocative acts of mudslinging, in a desper­ate bid to arm twist the Elec­tion Tribunal and influence its judgment,” which he said, would not work.

He reiterated his implicit confidence in the tribunal to protect the overwhelm­ing mandate freely given by Akwa Ibom people to Gov. Udom Emmanuel, and charged the APC to allow the tribunal to sort out its peti­tion, and stop the distractions through false utterances.

Ekpo also disclosed that the PDP was aware that the Department of State Se­curity, DSS, was quizzing some Akwa Ibom top INEC officials, noting that acts of intimidation and abuse of power were unnecessary in a democracy.

He, however, called on all PDP supporters and the peo­ple of Akwa Ibom State to re­main steadfast and continue to support the PDP adminis­tration led by Governor Em­manuel in the state to deliver on its agenda of economic development, job and wealth creation, as well as industri­alization.