Twenty-two aggrieved governorship aspirants on the platform of the Peoples Democratic party, PDP, in Akwa Ibom State have given the incumbent governor of the state, Chief Godswill Akpabio, conditions on how to address the impasse over the choice of a governorship candidate of the party for the 2015 election, Thisday reports.
The aggrieved aspirants who formed a forum named “Forum of Akwa Ibom State PDP Governorship Aspirants” made the demand over the weekend which they tagged as urgent.
The forum said, “The only realistic approach to the effectual resolution of this matter is an urgent meeting between the Mr. President, the national leadership of the party, your good self and the 23 governorship aspirants in the botched primaries.”
In a letter dated Friday, December 19, 2014 and addressed to Governor Akpabio, titled, “Re-PDP gubernatorial candidate for Akwa Ibom State” the 22 aggrieved governorship aspirants maintained that their position was concurrent with the move by the governor to reach a compromise to the looming crisis.
The memo reads in part, “Please recall that at your instance on December 19, you met with all the 23 governorship aspirants of the PDP from Akwa Ibom State at our secretariat in Abuja.
“At the meeting, you expressed your willingness to, jointly with us, find a way of resolving the impasse that has engulfed the governorship primaries of the party in Akwa Ibom State.
“We conveyed to you our appreciation of your humility in coming to meet with us at our secretariat and your understanding of the gravity of the matter, and informed you of our resolution in the following terms:
“We remain resolutely committed to the re-election of the President Goodluck Jonathan.
“We unequivocally reject the purported candidature of Mr. Udom Gabriel Emmanuel, your maternal cousin, as the PDP candidate in Akwa Ibom State because the processes of his alleged emergence were fundamentally flawed and totally unacceptable.
“We agree with you that the only realistic approach to the effectual resolution of this matter is an urgent meeting between Mr. President, the national leadership of the party, your good self and the 23 governorship aspirants in the botched primaries.
“This letter is written to you at your instance to enable you arrange the said meeting and accelerate the process.
“We thank you for initiating this meeting, the first such effort since the December 8, and hope that collectively, we shall harmoniously bring this matter to a successful close in due deference to transparency, democracy and good political conduct, bearing in mind the ultimate desire that PDP not only retains Akwa Ibom State but provides a leading light in the support of the re-election of President Goodluck which the current political situation in the State completely negates.”
