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The political leader of Essien Udim Local Government Area, Michael Afangideh, has vehemently rejected the Akwa Ibom State Independent Electoral Commission (AKISIEC)’s declaration that the All Progressives Congress (APC) won the recent chairmanship election in the council area.
Afangideh, expressing his frustration, told Premium Times on Wednesday, “I am not happy. Why should I be happy? All my people are crying.”
His comments come in the wake of a contentious electoral process that has left many questioning the legitimacy of the results.
The political landscape in Essien Udim is further complicated by the fact that Senate President Godswill Akpabio, a prominent APC member, hails from the area.
Afangideh accused the leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Akwa Ibom of engaging in what he termed a “trade by barter” arrangement, suggesting that the PDP allowed the APC to claim victory in Essien Udim for political leverage in the upcoming 2027 elections.
Despite the turmoil in Essien Udim, the PDP has managed to secure victories in 30 out of the 31 local government areas across the state.
The initial declaration by AKISIEC had named PDP candidate Enobong Friday as the winner of the chairmanship election in Essien Udim. However, this announcement was later retracted, and the commission declared APC candidate Ntiedo Usoro as the winner.
A video clip circulating online captures Inyang Atting, the returning officer for the election, stating that the PDP candidate, Friday, garnered 55,612 votes, while Usoro of the APC received only 686 votes.
“That Enobong Friday of PDP, having complied with the requirement of the law and scored the majority of votes, is hereby declared elected.
“I want to add that Enobong Friday, in addition to scoring the majority votes, had more than 25 per cent in all the 13 wards of Essien Udim Local Government Area,” Mr Atting, a professor of Medical and Public Health Parasitology/ Epidemiology at the University of Uyo, said in the declaration he made apparently on Saturday, shortly after the election.
But on Sunday, when AKISIEC released the names of the winners of the chairmanship election, the APC candidate’s name, not the PDP’s, appeared on the list as the election winner in Essien Udim.
The development prompted people in Akwa Ibom to question the election’s credibility.
The 106-year-old Afangideh insisted that the PDP candidate scored 55,612 votes, while the APC candidate scored 686 in the chairmanship election in Essien Udim.
“PDP won in all the wards,” he said. “After some time, another announcement came from somewhere in APC, they said the leader of (the) APC (Akpabio) wanted Essien Udim, that they should give him Essien Udim.
“The man in the APC with smaller votes was declared the winner.”
Afangideh said many youths from the local government area barricaded a major highway on Sunday to express their disapproval of the election commission’s declaration.
He noted, “Some youths are still with me right now, I am still pleading with them not to be violent.”
He said he, too, was not happy about the declaration that the APC won in Essien Udim, but there was not much he could do about it because age “has slowed him down.”
“What will I do? Am I going to fight somebody? I am 106 years old. I am no longer a young person.
“The governor said he wants to see me today by 4 p.m. (Wednesday, 9 October). I am going there with 20 of my people from Essien Udim to see him and to hear what he is going to say.”
Afangideh said he would send a message to Akpabio after meeting with Governor Eno.
Several people familiar with the politics in Essien Udim and Akwa Ibom told Premium Times that Afangideh is considered Akpabio’s “political father.”
Afangideh told the newspaper that he helped Akpabio to become a commissioner in Akwa Ibom, a governor, and later, a senator.
“In Ikot Ekpene Senatorial District, we have about 10 local government areas. After he (Akpabio) completed his tenure as governor, I asked the people what we should do for him. They said they should do a sendoff for him; they should buy a cow for him. I said no, that was not enough.
“That time, it was the turn of Abak to produce a senator. I pleaded with (Emmanuel) Enoidem to allow me handover Senate to him (Akpabio). And the people accepted. Ever since he became a senator, he doesn’t call me again because he said I should go with him to APC, and I said no.
“I told him I brought you from nowhere to the PDP. I don’t want to leave the PDP,”Afangideh said.
The platform told Mr Afangideh that some people believed it would have been a disgrace to the Senate president if the APC did not win in Essien Udim.
“He should get it by votes, not by power,” he retorted. “If he wanted it, he should have called some people in the PDP (and discussed it).”
