2019: Ekere insists on 8 year tenure

. Ekere wants Uyo Senatorial District to wait till 2027

By Signor Emedu, Newslinkng.com

The uneasy calm in the All Progressives Congress (APC), Akwa Ibom State Chapter seems to be on the brink of collapse with NDDC MD and leading gubernatorial candidate, Nsima Ekere insisting on ruling for two terms if voted into power in 2019.

PDP’s Udom Emmanuel from Eket Senatorial District will complete a first term of four years in 2019 and a likely showdown with Ekere is on the cards provided the NDDC MD successfully wrestles the APC ticket from Senator John Udoedehe who has again declared his intention to run for Hilltop Mansion for the third consecutive time, having aspired in 2011 and 2015.

According to party sources close to Ekere, all attempts by key APC stalwarts to make him shelve his 8 year tenure plan has not yielded any result with the obviously power-thirsty former deputy governor still  indicating his desire to prolong the reign of Eket Senatorial District to 12 years if he grabs the seat at Hilltop Mansion.

“There’s tension in our party concerning Ekere’s plan to seek an 8 year tenure if APC wins the next guber polls. This has not gone down well with our party stakeholders from Uyo Senatorial District who feel he’s too power-driven and selfish with his desires,” a top party (APC) source told this reporter.

Continuing, he said: “Party’s stakeholders from Uyo Senatorial District, especially Umana and Udoedehe are very irritated by his declaration and are definitely not on the same page with Ekere at the moment. We’re just afraid because we thought we had finally had peace with the seemingly succesfull congress we had”.

We had earlier reported that obviously stimulated by the renewed vigour showed by Senator Udoedehe in consolidating his position as a force to reckon with in the APC, Ekere had made a last ditch attempt to get the third republic senator to shelve his gubernatorial ambition-all to no avail.

Newslinkng.com learnt that the plea has not progressed to any reasonable level with Udoedehe currently unyielding to Ekere’s idea.

According to information gathered by this reporter, an offer made by Ekere  to Udoedehe to allow him(Ekere) emerge as flag-bearer for 2019 with a promise that he will reciprocate the favour to him(Udoedehe) 8 years later has failed with Udoedehe feeling increasingly infuriated by the NDDC’s man drive for power.