News Editor
From Etukudo Elanem, Uyo
A chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Akwa Ibom State and chairman of PDP Advocate for Peace and Justice, Dr. Tom Fredfish, has declared Governor Umo Eno’s defection to the All Progressives Congress (APC) as illegal.
He has urged the national secretariat of the PDP to challenge this defection in court.
He quoted Governor Eno to have announced his move from the PDP to the APC last Friday, citing internal party crisis and his admiration for President Bola Tinubu as reasons.
Eno stated, “I am not known to talk from both sides of my mouth, people who know me will know that if I believe in a thing, I’ll go all out for it, I can’t be visiting the president in the night and be saying something else in the day, that’s why I’ve decided to join the train of the president, to support him so I will not be accused of anti-party, e
Let me assure you that our government has always been inclusive government and it shall continue. No matter the party you are, you are first an Akwa Ibom person, political party is only a vehicle and we have our state to live in.”,
however, argued that Governor Eno did not provide a satisfactory reason for leaving the PDP beyond his admiration for the President. He contended that the governor’s defection violates Section 221 of the party’s constitution, which states that a political party shall sponsor a candidate in an election, emphasizing that the PDP was the sole sponsor of the governor.
Expressing disappointment that the state PDP leadership is not speaking out, likely due to their own potential alignment with the governor, Fredfish stated, “PDP in the state will not talk. How do you want them to talk when they are likely going to toe the path of the governor. Before you called me, I was planning a press release to call on the national chairman of PDP to immediately take action and challenge the defection of governor, Umo Eno.
“The defection is very illegal for two reasons: One is that the governor did not adduce any sensible reason why he is leaving the party. The only reason he gave is that he admires the President. Akwa Ibom People did not vote for him to go and align with Mr President, they voted for him under a political party to implement the wishes of the people, but now because he wants to align with the president, he decided to leave the party was nominated and voted for to another party because he admires the president.
“Second, the constitution of the party section 221 is very clear and it states that a political party shall sponsor a candidate and the PDP in this case was the only party that sponsored the governor. It’s just like you went to eat at Kilimanjaro restaurant and after eating you went and pay at Chicken Republic.
That is cheating. Again, it just like someone entering Ibom Air to use the governor’s analogy, and you had a very safe flight to Lagos and you went to pay at Air Peace this is wrong he insisted.”
Fredfish also mentioned that the governor had previously stated he was leaving because he couldn’t guarantee his second term, questioning why only the governor was concerned about this ambition, neglecting other elected officials.
