2015 Guber: USM Supports Nsima Ekere

- Urges PDP to Adopt him
By Franklyn Isong
As the build up to 2015 governorship race in Akwa Ibom State gathers momentum with the heated debates on zoning of the gubernatorial position polarizing the polity, a group under the auspices of Unity Successive Mandate (USM) has made a case for the position to be zoned to Eket Senatorial District (Akwa Ibom South) because, according to it, the area has never produced an elected governor for the state. The group also threw it weight behind the aspiration of the State Deputy Governor, Mr. Nsima Udo Ekere, to succeed his boss, the governor in 2015.
This was contained in a statement issued by the group at the weekend which was signed by its Youth Leader, Comrade Favour Edet and made available to Weekly Insight.
The statement said that the ultimate desire of every Akwa Ibom indigene home and abroad was for people of the state to have good governance in 2015, saying that, “it is unfortunate for the system to be heated up with the un-necessary debates of zoning of governorship position because it is very clear beyond every reasonable doubt that Eket Senatorial District has never produced an elected governor for the state in the history of the state, so, it is the turn of the zone to be supported for the position in 2015.”
USM condemned what it called “overheating of the system by splinter political groups in the state,” saying, “we advised that these interest groups should give the government a break and stop distracting it with 2015 politics which is three years ahead. What should be of paramount important to every Akwa Ibom person now, should be how to support the good works of His Excellencies, the governor and his deputy, so that they can completely transform the state.”
The group commended the Governor, Chief Godswill Obot Akpabio, for what it called: “wonderful performance in the state,” urging him “not to give in to the detractors.”
The release went further to acknowledged the “supportive role of the state deputy governor, Obong Nsima Ekere, to Governor Godswill Akpabio’s transformation agenda in the state,” noting that it supports Ekere to succeed Akpabio in 2015 “so that the transformation agenda of Akpabio’s government will continue in the state.”
It called on the youths of the state to “rally round and support the deputy governor in his bid to succeed the governor in 2015,” promising that on its part, it has already commenced mass mobilization of youths across the state for Ekere’s governorship ambition.
USM said that it took the position to support Ekere after an enlarged meeting of several youth organizations last week in Uyo, the state’s capital and urged the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to “do what is right by adopting Obong Nsima Ekere for the 2015 governorship race, so that the political tempo in the state could be reduced and the unnecessary heated political debates on zoning would be laid to rest in the best interest of the state.”