Governor Godswill Akpabio
Okon Bassey in Uyo

Supporters of Akwa Ibom State Governor, Chief Godswill Akpabio, in Ikot
Ekpene senatorial district of the state, have begun the process of
recalling their representative in the Senate, Senator Aloysius Etok.
The recall moves followed the alleged refusal of the senator to
apologise to Akpabio, with whom he had been at loggerheads over the
jockeying for the senatorial position in the 2015 elections.
The senator who was reported to have accused the governor of a plot to
kill him, among other grievous allegations, was given a week ultimatum
to apologise to Akpabio or face sanction.
The state Commissioner for Housing and Urban Renewal, Mr. Emmanuel
Enoidem, yesterday confirmed the recall bid at a news conference, saying
it will start tomorrow with collection of signatures from the people of
the district.
He said the people of Annang extraction had never looked down on the
Ibibios in the council area or in the state as a whole, adding that it
was based on such bond of brotherliness that Etok was given the
senatorial ticket for two consecutive times.
He described as unfortunate the statement made by the governor that he
would appoint Etok his campaign manager when vying for the senatorial
ticket, which made the senator to make inflammatory statements.
Nonetheless, he said if the senator had felt insulted, he should have
consulted with the elders of the district and ask for apology from the
governor rather than making inflammatory statements against Akpabio.
“We will not support Etok in 2015. What we are doing has no ethnic
coloration or sentiment, it has to do with a failed and insulting
representation and a man who does not recognise the people,”, he said.
The commissioner explained that the signatures being canvassed for
would not attract any financial benefits to those that would sign as was
being speculated by the senator.
“We don’t have any tension in Ikot Ekpene senatorial district; what we
are doing is lawful and within the contemplation of the constitution.
We cannot send Senator Aloysius Etok back to the Senate in 2015. He has
failed us woefully; he has disappointed us deeply; he has insulted us
gravely," he stated.
“In short, what we are doing now is to recall him because we gave him
seven days to apologise and he refused. We are going to recall him from
the Senate and the time we gave expired on Wednesday last week.
“So as we talk now, we are initiating a procedure to recall him from
the Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria ,” he stated.
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