One of the Resident Electoral Commissioners, Mr Etekamba Umoren, who was confirmed by the Senate, was seen during the last general elections, telling Akwa Ibom State residents that they were in safe hands with the All Progressives Congress (APC).
SaharaReporters reported on Wednesday that the Senate screened and confirmed Etekamba Umoren, Senator Godswill Akpabio’s former aide and Isah Ehimeakhe, an All Progressives Congress card-carrying member as Resident Electoral Commissioners of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
It was also reported that the confirmation came despite protest by 17 Civil Society Groups working on Governance and Elections in a petition to the President of the Senate, demanding the rejection of the nomination of Messrs Etekamba Umoren and Isah Shaka Ehimeakne as RECs because of their links to the ruling APC.
The CSOs had pointed out that nomination of the duo breached section 156(1) and Third Schedule, Part 1, item F, paragraph 14 (1) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (As Altered), which clearly prohibits the appointment of any member of a political party as a member of INEC.
For Elekamba Umoren, the CSOs specifically noted that he is not only a member of APC but also served as an aide to the current Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, when he was the Governor of Akwa Ibom State.
“Umoren, then a card-carrying member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) had served as Chief of Staff, Government House, under the administration of Dr. Godswill Akpabio as Governor of Akwa Ibom State. Similarly, upon assumption of office of Governor of the state in 2015, Governor Emmanuel Udom appointed Mr Etekamba Umoren as the Secretary to the State Government (SSG), still being a member of the PDP, among others facts.”
However, a video of Etekamba Umoren during last APC campaigns, which had gone viral on social media, has shown where he adorned himself in APC campaign clothes.
In one of the videos shot by Channels TV, Umoren was seen campaigning for the APC in Akwa Ibom State, telling the crowd of supporters that Akwa Ibom was in safe hands in the APC.
During his defection from PDP to APC, Akpabio had stated: “You are Secretary to Government until January, thank you. From today have you accepted that Akwa Ibom State should become APC and that old things shall pass away if you say so, collect the broom and sweep it on the ground here and tell them that you are in safe hands. You are a technocrat of the highest oder,” he said.
Thereafter, Umoren collected the broom and waved it, shouting, “Akwa Ibom you are in safe hands.”