July 17, (THEWILL) – The Gubernatorial candidate of African Democratic Congress (ADC) in Akwa Ibom State, Arch. Nya Etok, has debunked in strong terms the news making the rounds, especially on social media, that he has has withdrawn from the 2023 Governoship race.
The widely speculated report also purported that the renowned Architect cum politician, had handed over his structure to the candidate of the New Nigerian People’s Party (NNPP), Sen. John Akpan Udoedehe.
It was equally rumoured that Etok had collected a huge sum of money in exchange for the exulted position as party candidate for the number one seat in the state.
Debunking the report in an exclusive interaction with THEWILL correspondent on Saturday, Arch. Nya Etok stated that he had rather, persuaded the presidential candidate of the NNPP, Alhaji Rabiu Kwankwaso, who has been his good friend over the years to join his party but, he was turned down.
According to him, he too had decided never to leave his party, ADC, to any other party, stressing that even Sen. Udoedehe, who is the flag bearer of NNPP in the state can attest to the fact that he (Etok) is focused on his plans and purposes for the people of the state, through the ADC platform.
“The news is that ADC has been handed over to another party. I came here to tell you to use your tongue to count your teeth. That is an absolute falsehood from the pit of hell.
“I just want to tell you that I have a very good friend called Alhaji Kwankwaso, who is the presidential candidate of NNPP. The news is that he called me and settled me with some outrageous amount of money, you know here we call billions as if they don’t matter, on account of which I had stepped down from contesting and then my party moved over to be submerged into another party.
“I want to say that Kwaso is a very close friend of mine and when he got into politics to contest, we formed what is called The National Movement and if you saw the live telecast of that movement, I was the person that spoke on behalf of the South-South. That was the level of position I occupied in the National Movement.
During that period, I did everything to get him to join my party, but he gave me reasons why he would rather have a different structure and expectedly, he also spoke with me extensively to join his party, but I had come to Akwa Ibom and set up ADC. From inception, I had done everything to bring the party to where it was. Anybody who would not join me in ADC would not have me in another party. He is a very understanding friend absolutely so as politicians, we maintain our relationship where we agree to disagree where the parties are concerned and that is the position we have maintained till today.”
He, however, disclosed that in the past couple of days, he had received a lot of calls from reputable personalities in the state who are eager to know those that are on the party’s ballot in the state.
“They know the caliber of persons who have come out to contest under ADC and they all want to know what these names are, for whatever reason and we have kept it close to our chest, knowing that in the next few days the portal will make it clear who the candidates are, but before the portals are closed, they want to know who they are, so they can close the window, but it is too late. I can say that ADC is the alternative force in Akwa Ibom State.
Testifying to the fact that the rumour was nothing to write home about, a member of ADC, Mr Felix Thompson, narrated that a group of people who are mostly none members of the party had invited him to a prayer meeting, which turned out to be in Sen. Udoedehe residence with the intention of staging a fake defection using ADC, but said the scam did not sail through as Udoedehe himself could not be fooled.
“The spokesman was not a member of ADC, the chairman was not there, not even the secretary. The pressmen that were invited left in anger when they realised what was going on. Sen. Udoedehe simply told them that he knows Nya Etok very well and instructed that they be given Transport money to go back.” Thompson narrated.
Etok, however, exonerated Udoedehe from the scam, saying that all what the scammers wanted was money, admitting that the event and the subsequent speculations had gone a long way to give popularity to the party in the state.
He assured that ADC has a strong footage in Akwa Ibom and would get even stronger in few days to come.
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