2019: Crisis hits Akwa Ibom PDP as Lands Commissioner moves against Senator; stakeholders urge Gov Emmanuel to call him to order

Crisis has hit Akwa Ibom Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), no thanks to the build up to the 2019 general elections.
Some stakeholders in the party under the aegis of Akwa Ibom Progressives Forum (AKIPROF) have urged Governor Udom Emmanuel to call his Commissioner for Lands and Town Planning, Mr Uwem Ita Etuk, to order and caution him against playing divisive politics and causing unnecessary tension in the polity.
It is generally believed that Etuk is already working with some groups in Uyo Senatorial District to ensure that Senator Bassey Albert does not get a second term ticket.
Series of meetings have been held to strategise on how to abort Albert’s re-election plan and Etuk is the arrowhead of the plot.
On the other hand, AKIPROF stakeholders are supporting Albert’s re-election and they are calling on Emmanuel to call Etuk to order immediately to avoid tension in the senatorial district.
The Forum, in a statement by its President, Pastor Odudu Abasi Akpan, said the statement credited to Etuk that Albert would not return to the Upper Chamber of the National Assembly, was unfortunate.
The statement reads: “That action is unfortunate, ill intentioned and an attempt to cause disunity among the people of the district and the state.”
The forum maintained that while it is too early to talk about 2019, Etuk was not in any position to decide for the people of Uyo district, saying: “Rather than support the governor and other stakeholders to move the state forward, we are disappointed that the commissioner is busy fanning the embers of discord.”
“Senator Albert is the choice of Uyo Senatorial district today. He should be allowed to focus on the quality representation he has been giving his people and should not be distracted by such needless and infantile manoeuvrings from Etuk because of his selfish interest. There has never been anything called zoning in Uyo district so, why is he unnecessarily heating up the polity?”
AKIPROF further accused the commissioner of sinister plots to reinstate the former Speaker of the House of Assembly, Hon. Aniekan Uko, who recently returned to the House after his victory in the just-concluded rerun election, saying that “it was untoward for a commissioner to be seen causing all these disaffections within the state in the name of politics.”