Politics
Group Demands Disqualification Of Akwa Ibom Governorship Aspirant, Eno For Violating Electoral Act
Agroup, Concerned Peoples Democratic Party members, Akwa Ibom State, has asked the screening committee of the party to disqualify Pastor Umo Eno from participating in the forthcoming party’s primary elections over his alleged flagrant violation of the Electoral Act 2022.
The group stated this on Thursday in a letter addressed to the Chairman of the committee obtained by SaharaReporters dated April 27, 2022.
The letter was signed by Mr. James Benson Ekpo.
It was gathered that the PDP Screening Committee for South South Zone presently sitting in Port Harcourt had been under immense pressure to cover up Pastor Umo Eno and clear him accordingly.
The group accused Eno of violating Section 84 (12) and (15) of the Electoral Act 2022 and Section 182 (1) (G) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
The letter asked the committee to disqualify Eno for not resigning his appointment as required by the law as he was the director of Ibom Fadama MicroFinance Bank, an institution incorporated by the state government.
The group maintained that the provisions of the electoral act stipulated that anybody contesting in the governorship primary election should resign from office within 30 days.
The letter therefore asked the committee to disqualify him from the exercise before the electoral body be in the know of the information.
The letter read in part ” We respectively write to you on the above mentioned subject matter to bring to your notice the fact that Pastor Umo Bassey Eno one of the aspirants of the office of Governor of Akwa Ibom State in the forthcoming primary electio of your great party ( PDP ) is still a serving director of Ibom Fadama MicroFinance Bank as institution incorporated by the Akwa Ibom State government to access funds from federal government through the Central Bank of Nigeria ( CBN ) for Agricultural purposes.
“It is our humble request that Pastor Umo Bassey Eno should be disqualified from participating in the primary election of the party to avoid our party being sanctioned by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) when this information get to the commission.”
The screening of the Governorship aspirants of the party kicked off today in the state thereby casting cloud of doubt on the eligibility of Eno over his failure to resign his appointment in violation of the Electoral Act and Party Guidelines.
It will be recalled that Pastor Umo Eno was chosen by Governor Udom Emmanuel as his preferred successor in January 2022 amid protest by many leaders and stakeholders of the party in the state.
