Akpabio accuses AIG Bolanta, APC of intimidating Akwa Ibom voters

Governor Godswill Akpabio of Akwa Ibom State has slammed the police authority in the state, for alleged conspiracy with the All Progressives Congress (APC) to intimidate voters and manipulate the April 11 governorship and House of Assembly elections in its favour.
Speaking during the presentation of Certificate of Return to those who emerged victorious at the elections, Akpabio argued that his party, the Peoples Democratic Party ( PDP) was disadvantaged in the election.
The governor disclosed that as a result of the concession of defeat by President Goodluck Jonathan to his opponent, Major-General Muhammadu Buhari, some security agents shifted loyalty, “even while President Jonathan is still the incumbent”.
He recalled that the APC governorship candidate, Mr Umana Umana, was boasting that an Assistant Inspector General of Police (AIG) and three Commissioners of Police as well as a special police unit had been sent to him to monitor elections.
Akpabio disclosed that “this arrangement was not known to me as the Chief Security Officer of the state and my party. The police went ahead to intimidate voters and shot at them in a place like Ibesikpo Asutan where they also harassed my Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, Obong Uwem Etuk.
“The man who was shot dead, allegedly on the orders of the police at Ini Local Government Area, one Mr Gabriel Udo Udo, a father of two, was the Personal Assistant to my former Senior Special Assistant on Youths and Sports, and also a PDP agent in the area.”
Akpabio flayed the police who, he said, were clearly partisan and serving the interest of the APC.
“A chieftain of the party, who was arrested at Nsit Atai for mass thumb printing of ballot papers for the APC, abducted 12 corps members whom he forced to carry out the criminal act before they were apprehended. The denial of the chieftain by the APC governorship candidate, Umana Umana, on a national television was face saving because some of the so-called elders of PDP had defected to the APC in secret while subverting the PDP,” he said.
Akpabio, therefore, called for a probe of his allegations against AIG Baba Adisa Bolanta and his team so as to get to the root of the matter and punish the offenders, adding that such disloyal act by security agents may make it difficult in future for a President who loses election to concede and felicitate his opponent like President Jonathan did.
He, however, thanked the Akwa Ibom electorate, who he said have stuck with the PDP based on the track record of performance his party had shown and assured that the Governor-elect, Deacon Udom Emmanuel, will deliver on his campaign promises and lift Akwa Ibom higher.