Akpabio plans to Cause mayhem in Akwa Ibom – Group

An Akwa Ibom based group, Akwa Ibom Elders and Stakeholders, have alleeged that the minister of Niger Delta, Godswill Akapbio, has plans to cause mayhem in Akwa Ibom state.

In a statement signed by Otuekong Idongesit Nkanga, Sen. Anietie Okon, the mayhem will “justify the movement of the venue of the tribunal from Uyo to Abuja where he has been boasting to everyone who cares to listen, that he is guaranteed a favourable ruling.”

Read the full statement below

We, the Elders and Stakeholders of our dear State,  operating as the moral authority and voice of our people, having been reliably informed of an evil plot by Chief Godswill Akpabio, the Minister of Niger Delta to cause mayhem in our dear State and in the process bring about a widespread break down of law and order in the State as a justification for the relocation of the Election Tribunals currently sitting in Uyo to Abuja, hereby sound this note of warning to the Honourable Minister that he should allow our people to enjoy the peace and tranquillity  we have experienced in the last four years.

According to exclusive details at our disposal, Chief Akpabio, in order to justify the movement of the venue of the tribunal from Uyo to Abuja where he has been boasting to everyone who cares to listen, that he is guaranteed a favourable ruling, citing his “close relationships” with important people within the Presidency, the President of the Court of Appeal and his colleague, the Attorney General has concluded plans to incite and ignite a widespread mayhem in the State in the next few days.

The hoodlums and cultists he has recruited are busy boasting that they have been heavily mobilized by Chief Akpabio and the scale of destruction they plan to unleash will be such that the tribunal would have no choice but to move to Abuja.

We wish to use this opportunity to call on the relevant security agencies to look seriously into this threat of violence and mayhem. Akwa Ibom people have enjoyed peace and tranquillity under the able leadership of Governor Udom Emmanuel in the past four years and we do not wish to see the disruption of such atmosphere of peace and development in the State. The people are united in their condemnation of any form of violence.

In the lead-up to the  Presidential and National Assembly and Gubernatorial elections last February and March respectively, our people were subjected to psychological trauma of an invocation of the spectre of violence  in the form of the now famous” Warsaw Saw War”.

Our people were assailed with the audio recordings of the gubernatorial candidate of the APC,  where he was overhead concluding plans to import ”umbrellas”- a street slang for guns and ammunitions aimed at attacking and causing widespread violence at polling units across the State.. We had expected the security agencies to investigate and look into what was  then a clear and present danger to the safety of our people. No such investigations were conducted.

We are calling on the Inspector General of Police  and the Director General of the State Security Services (SSS) to as a matter of urgency look into this evil and insidious plot by Chief Akpabio to deliberately cause the breakdown of law and order in our State just to justify the movement of the tribunal venue from Uyo to Abuja.

Politics should not be reduced to blood sport. Elections were conducted last February and March respectively and the winners emerged through the popular will of the people. The losers have, as required, gone to the tribunals to challenge the results. The aggrieved parties should wait for the learned Justices to do their job. Planning to cause violence and break down of  law and order to justify the relocation of the tribunal to where Chief Akpabio feels is a friendlier venue should be condemned by all right thinking Nigerians.