Iniobong Ekponta, Uyo

With the tempo of electioneering gradually thawing following the shift in dates of the general elections to hold between March 28 and April 11, political parties have withdrawn temporarily into their cocoons to retool their strategies for more edge over others at the polls.

Cashing in on the six weeks extension, the Accord Party (AP) in Akwa Ibom State at the weekend took time off to shop for more cash, as party stakeholders gathered for a fundraising in aid of the governorship candidates, Bishop Samuel Akpan’s quest to wrest power from the outgoing Governor Godswill Akpabio.

Besides, the fund-raising ceremony, The Union learnt, was to support the re-election of President Goodluck Jonathan, following the adoption of Jonathan as the Presidential choice of the AP.

It was at the South-South Zonal Secretariat of the Goodluck Mandate Group (GMG), along Edet Akpan Avenue, Uyo, where stakeholders and supporters of the AP including its Chairman, Mr. Joseph Itiaba, gathered to take stock at the party’s chances at the forthcoming polls.

Akpan, former chief mobilizer to Governor Akpabio in the run up to his election in 2007, quit the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) when it was obvious he would not get the State backing and the party’s endorsement for the State’s political top job in the next dispensation.

Addressing Journalists, the one-time Special Adviser to Akpabio on Political and Legislative Affairs, who later became the Deputy Chairman of the PDP in the State, said his entry into the race from whatever platform, was divinely ordained.

Assuring his supporters of his resolve to run the State along the paths of equity, justice and fair-play, Akpan, who chairs the South-South chapter of the GMG, said he was on a mission to re-design the development roadmap of the 27-year-old State, adding that industrialization, education, health, agriculture, jobs and wealth creation would form the fulcrum of his agenda for the State if elected.

The former PDP chieftain, who was also made to chair a dysfunctional State Road Maintenance Agency, pledged to work towards the return of President Jonathan, even on the Accord Party platform, and appealed to the President to “be careful with those he is dealing with in Akwa Ibom”.

http://theunion.com.ng/aibom-accord-party-supports-jonathan-campaign-with-n1bn/

Gej till 2023