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| DSS operatives |
The political temperature
in Akwa Ibom State is assuming a feverish degree since operatives of the
Department of State Security (DSS) raided the state Government House on Friday
September 4, 2015, in what they termed ‘routine surveillance action’. The invasion has
continued to mesmerize Governor Udom Emmanuel’s administration as well as send
shock waves across the length and breadth of the state with many tongues still
wagging on the streets of Uyo, the state capital.
Reports
have it that the DSS men acted on a security report indicating that arms, ammunition and Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) were stored in the
Government House, following which they broke into the rooms and guest houses
where those items were said to be kept.
Expectedly,
the invasion has generated a multiplicity of opinions and perceptions from Akwa
Ibom people and Nigerians as a whole. While the DSS action is being perceived
in some quarters as a normal security operation, others averse to it weave
political theories around the incident.
Leadership
report continues:
Right
now, tension and an atmosphere of indignation are building up in the state
especially in the camps of the state government and the ruling People’s Democratic
Party (PDP).
They
have refused to see the DSS raid as a normal security operation and in fact,
are pointing accusing fingers at key elements of the All Progressives Congress
(APC) within the state, whom they believe are working in tandem with the APC at
the centre to take over the government in the state.
This
suspicion by the state government and the PDP is further fuelled by the
intrigues playing out between the two parties at the tribunals in Abuja over
the last governorship, national and state assembly elections.
Despite
a semblance of calmness exuded by Governor Emmanuel, Senator Godswill Akpabio
and others, Umana Okon Umana and Inibehe Okorie who are at the tribunal
slugging it out with Udom and Akpabio respectively are causing major upsets
within the camps of the PDP.
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Aerial view
of Akwa Ibom State Govt House
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A
government source, who does not want to be named, disclosed to LEADERSHIP
Sunday in Uyo that there is serious apprehension within the rank and files of
the PDP in the state that the elections might be annulled.
Their
fears started when the election tribunals were relocated from Uyo to Abuja.
They protested against the relocation, expressing concerns that the movement of
the tribunals to FCT must have been orchestrated by the APC to secure victory
for the party by all means.
“In
fact, the PDP in the state is expecting that the tribunal may upturn the
governorship election hence has even constituted a committee to prepare for a
re-run in the event that the election is annulled.
“Akpabio
himself has advised the PDP in the state to start preparing for a re-run
because from the goings-on in the tribunal, the election would be annulled”,
the source said.
In
fact, the state commissioner for Justice and Attorney-general, Mr Uwemedimo
Nwoko, in a telephone interview with LEADERSHIP Sunday in Uyo said the raid by
the DSS operation was carried out for political reasons.
According
to Nwoko, the DSS acted based on the information from the opposition in the
state that the PDP-controlled state government was storing arms and ammunition
in preparing for a re-run election in case the tribunal in Abuja cancelled the
last election.
He
stated further that the reason given by the DSS that it carried out the raid as
part of its routine security operation was nothing but a farce, adding that
they came to mop up non-existent arms and ammunition to disarm the PDP ahead of
a possible re-run election.
Another
school of thought has come up with another reason why secret service went on
rampage at the state Government House. According to them, the APC is targeting
former Governor Godswill Akpabio to bring him down.
The
pro-Akpabio elements are afraid that President Muhammadu Buhari is trying to
shop for incriminating evidences with which to rope Akpabio of corruption so
that he could be arrested by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission
(EFCC).
This,
they reason, is primarily aimed at decimating the towering political influence
of the former governor, who was recently nominated the Senate minority leader.
At
a press conference in Uyo on Wednesday, elders of the PDP led by a former
military administrator, Otuekong Idongesit Nkanga, stated that there was more
to it than meet the eye in the DSS invasion.
Nkanga,
flanked by Senator Effiong Bob, Senator Anietie Okon, Brigadier-general Anthony
Etukudo and other senior citizens of the state condemned the DSS operation,
describing it as a ‘rape on democracy’ and a desecration of the sanctity and
immunity provided by the constitution for the governor.
“We
see this action as a clear breach of the immunity of the governor and a
continuation of the programmed-harassment which the federal authorities have
persistently visited on opposition elements after the election.
“These
actions are obviously meant to harass, intimidate and humiliate the government
of the state and its people, otherwise why are we being consistently visited by
this level of crude action by a federal agency in a democracy?
“The
partisan nature in which this federal agency had been interfering with normal
procedural matters is becoming worrisome and requires immediate intervention
before it gets out of hand”, Nkanga said.
Adding
to the outcry, the PDP Governors’ Forum recently in Bayelsa has also condemned
the invasion, describing it as an assault on democracy. The last has, however,
not been heard.
Ekiti
State Governor, Ayo Fayose had spoken against the DSS action as soon as it
occurred.
Though not explicitly
stated, the PDP Governors’ Forum and Governor Fayose are saying that the PDP
states are under siege both at the elections tribunal and from the security agents
of the federal government.
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