The embattled state chairman of Accord party in Akwa Ibom state Hon Martins Inyang said he remains the authentic chairman of the party as the purported vpte of no confidence passed by a faction of the party last weekend is illegal.
Inyang stated this following his purported sack by the party state Secretary-Mr Imeobong Udeng who conspired with the governorship candidate of the party in the 2023 elections- Emem Kofie as well as a few others to stage-managed his sack last weekend.
Recall that the Party Secretary, Udeng, while passing a vote of no confidence during a press conference in Uyo over the weekend accused the chairman of being involved in anti-party activities, inability to win elections for their candidate in his unit, selling the party out to PDP and embezzling N3.1Million given by the governorship candidate during the electioneering campaigns.
But, the embattled Chairman while speaking with our correspondent on Thursday said those plotting his removal have no locus standi to sack an elected chairman even as he described their action as ultra vires.
Inyang said the gathering at the campaign office of the guber candidate was in the first place illegal as it was not known by either the state or the national body.
“I remain the elected chairman of Accord party, Akwa Ibom State. The purported assembly gathering at Kofie’s campaign office was illegal, it is not known to the party in the state or to the party at the national. There is a trending story that I have been removed from the office and a vote of no confidence passed on me, how is an elected officer being removed from a party? Engr Kofie should look at the constitution of the party because the constitution of the party gives details of every activity of the member of the party. Is Engr Kofie a member of NEC, or is he a member of the state Executive Council? Is he the National Chairman?”
The chairman also denied being involved in anti-party activities as alleged saying that the National body of the party directed them to support Bola Tinubu as the president and Senator Godswill Akpabio as the Senate president querying how carrying out the directive of the National body would amount to anti-party activity.
“This is clear blackmail! The constitution of the party does not give me the privilege to do certain things in my mind, otherwise, we would have sized ourselves up.
“They also said that I played over to PDP that I was pretending at the party, I want to say that I am disappointed. Engr Kofie came to the party from Abuja and the party gave him a waiver. We gave him all the support, he never believed that Tinubu and Akpabio would even win elections. He was aware that the party played alliance with Tinubu and Akpabio and he was playing a kangaroo that he has removed me and made his campaign DG an interim Chairman where does that happen?
“Kofie said I did not win my ward and unit, during the presidential election, I won for president Tinubu, I won for Senator Godswill Akpabio, I could have won for him if not due to violence in my unit during the governorship election.
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“The BVAs were carted away. Ask him how many votes he got in his unit as the candidate of the party, and how many votes did his DG got in his unit? Yes in my unit the BVAs were taken away. How could I have been quoted on air that I did not win election? I challenge them to show everyone the election results in their units. None of them had a vote that could mastermind winning in their unit. Am I Jesus Christ that is everywhere?
‘On the N3.1 million he gave me; can N3.1M make Kofie the governor of the state? We have 4,354 units in the state. Divide N3.1 Million by 4,354 units, you get N7.00 per unit. The question is, can N7.00 (Seven Naira) win you an election in the country? If he was interested in winning election, he should go and ask Umo Eno how to win election.
“He should ask other governors how to win election, he should ask President Tinubu how to win elections. He came from Abuja and I absorbed him and shut down others, giving him maximum support. As a journalist, I will give you the names of all the recipients of the money, call them and find out. Tell him that he is still owing the party. At the appropriate time, we will write to him to give us our balance. It’s a big shame that I stood with him against Umo Eno and he turned around to say otherwise.
“Has Kofie contested elections and won before? Even the suspended Party Secretary, that was among the purported vote of no confidence, how can a suspended secretary wake up one day and sack his chairman?”. He queried.
