TheCable

Idongesit Nkanga, chairman of the campaign organisation of Udom Emmanuel, governor of Akwa Ibom state, says the people of the state voted for liberation.

Emmanuel defeated Nsima Ekere of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the last governorship election.

At a programme in Uyo, the state capital, Nkanga commended the people for defying intimidation and harassment to vote for Emmanuel whom he described as a “leader who wears humility like a badge of honour”.

“Akwa Ibom people voted for freedom, they voted to end the misleading belief of a single individual who had previously arrogated unto himself the sole repository of political power, knowledge and strength,” he said.

“They voted to enjoy the peace and security we have been enjoying for the past almost four years, they voted for development over the selling of our commonwealth, they voted for unity and brotherhood over the forces of division and attrition.

“They voted for a man who puts God ahead in all his deliberations, over those who put the power of the gun and bayonets in their daily engagements.”

He said the election confirmed the dominance of the PDP in the state, taunting APC for saying Ekere won in 26 local government areas.

“We have read the laughable assertion by the APC that its governorship candidate won in 26 local governments of the State,” he said.

“May we ask if such victories were conjured in their dreams, because the reality is that Akwa Ibom State is PDP and PDP is Akwa Ibom State!

:While we campaigned from unit to wards, to local government areas and the entire nooks and crannies of the State, selling our Candidate, his superlative achievements, the peace and security we are enjoying and persuading the people not to return to the dreadful days of insecurity, politically motivated assassinations, kidnappings and the carnage of the past , and the people listened, the other side relied more on the famed “Federal Might” and the force or instruments of violence as the only means for them to win the elections.

“While we went to all strata of the society, the church, traders, auto mechanics, the professional class and the informal sectors and persuaded them to vote for our candidates, the other side was busy negotiating to kill and maim our people in order to win election. The people voted for peace over death and violence.”