By Jacob Kubeka (ABUJA) –
The opposition Peoples Democratic Party [PDP], has been tasked to prove that Sir Etekamba Umoren is a card-carrying member of the All-Progressives Congress (APC).
A leader of the APC in Eket Senatorial District of Akwa-Ibom State and spokesperson to the Senate President, Hon Eseme Eyiboh, who made the call on Sunday, also challenged the PDP to produce verifiable and conclusive evidence that Umoren is on the register of the APC and that he is a financial member in line with the party’s membership criteria.
Recall that Sir Umoren, a retired Permanent Secretary, one-time Chief of Staff, ex- Secretary to the State Government in Akwa Ibom, was recently appointed as Resident Electoral Commissioner [REC] amid criticisms by the opposition PDP and CSOs that he is a card-carrying member of the APC.
Eyiboh, who addressed a press conference on in Abuja, in his capacity as chairman of the Forum of 2023 APC National Assembly and State House of Assembly candidates in Akwa Ibom State, on the state of APC in the state, responded to questions by journalists on the particular issue.
At the press conference called by some Akwa Ibom stakeholders to thank the President for the appointments he had so far made from Akwa Ibom, including those of a Deputy Governor of CBN, Secretary at FCTA, REC, among others, Eyiboh repudiated the claim by the opposition on Umoren’s membership of the APC.
He said that until his appointment as REC, Umoren was a bureaucrat who served the state with distinction in different capacities.
He said the claim by the opposition that they saw Umoren wear APC uniform was tenuous, explaining that mere putting on of a dress ot uniform does not confirm membership of the APC.
He stated that their claim would be true if Umoren were a card-carrying member of the APC, adding that they would also have to prove that his name is on the register and that he has been paying the prescribed Party dues.
Eyiboh dismissed the oppositions’ claims as incorrect, spurious, and largely speculative.
He took the opportunity to fault the CSOs for not sending in their petitions against Umoren to the Senate.
He said he expected that they would have done that and attached the evidence of Umoren’s APC membership.
“If they are saying he is a member of APC by attire, they are wrong because that is not the law; they must prove it by presenting his membership card and show the party register containing his name,” Eyiboh posited.
Eyiboh, who explained that he was not a spokesperson of the Senate, said he was a witness of truth to the extent of his knowledge that Sir Umoren was and is not a card-carrying member of the APC.
He concluded his submission by thanking President Tinubu, the Senate, and the media [unelected representatives of the people] for supporting the emergence of Senator Godswill Akpabio as senate president in June this year.
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