The Governorship candidate of African Democratic Congress, ADC, Akwa Ibom State, Arch Ezekiel Nya-Etok has noted that people have reached a stage where they should look beyond political party or zone and consider a candidate who has the capacity to turn around the fortunes of the nation.
The Governorship candidate stated this in a press briefing over the weekend ahead of the unveiling of ADC event centre located at Edet Akpan Avenue Uyo which he said would be made available free of charge to members of the society irrespective of party preferences.
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He, however, wondered why people still vote party instead of the credibility of a candidate and what the person will offer to the people in terms of governance regretting that such has made the people to remain down for a long time.
Describing zoning as one of the impediments to progress, Nya-Etok noted that the three Senatorial districts of Akwa Ibom have produced a governor therefore, a competent governor who has the interest of the people at heart should be considered irrespective of zone.
According to him, “We are where we are today because of our insincerity, we know that someone does not have the capacity to solve our problem, yet we still want to vote the person because of political party. Governance is not rocket science.
“Zoning is one of the biggest evils and deterrent of progress, zoning has never helped us. All the three Senatorial districts of Uyo, Ikot Ekpene, Eket in Akwa Ibom have produced a governor. Time has come when we should not be saying it must be this zone, whosoever that will change the fortunes of the people should be considered.”
Asked why he did not join the ruling PDP to actualize his dream he said, “being in PDP is just like a political suicide, PDP will never take you on account of what you have to offer, it’s about who likes you or does not like you so it’s most silly, unreasonable thing to join a platform like that.
“How can I go to exam that I don’t know about it, no marking scheme? Do you want to tell me that the one PDP brought is the most qualified, the most loved, the most competent? No! The only way I can join PDP is when I’m the governor’s anointed, which is not possible, nothing would have made the governor to give me the ticket, sometimes it’s understandable.” He said.
The ADC Governorship candidate said the party has candidates in all the offices and that they will not make it open, giving some politicians the access not to lobby and grab peoples mandate, adding that they are waiting for INEC’s substitution window to close before they make their candidates public.
Speaking on why he chose to acquire an event centre rather than mounting billboards, Nya-Etok said, “If you check around the city you won’t see my campaign billboards. The money used in actualizing this project would have given ADC many billboards across the town, but, what will be my gain as the billboards will only advertise me and my political ambition without adding value to the people.
“This event center which is called ADC Arena will be used by anybody, be it a person in APC, PDP, APGA, or any political party, and irrespective of any state you come from it will be 100 percent free.”
