One of the governorship aspirants under the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Mr Onofiok Luke has announced his withdrawal from Wednesday’s primary election of the party in Akwa Ibom State.
In a letter he personally signed tagged, “When Reality Stares us in the Face,” and made available to our correspondent in Uyo on Wednesday, Luke, who is a member representing Etinan Federal Constituency in the House of Representatives, regretted that the adhoc delegates for the election were not his supporters as his supporters who bought forms to be adhoc delegates were excluded from the process.
He stressed that he would not go into the primaries without his largest support base which comprises the statutory delegates.
Luke, who is a former Speaker of Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly, said the decision was taken after due consultation with the leadership of the Amazing Grace Campaign team and representatives of his support base.
According to him, “Our hope of victory was dependent on God using the delegates at the PDP primaries and ultimately Akwa Ibom people at the general election. This was our conviction and it is still our conviction today.
“However, unfolding realities within our party and the nation have called for a reconsideration of my participation in the gubernatorial primaries of our party today.
“This is for the simple fact that we will not be going into this election with our largest support base which is the statutory delegates.
“We also do not have any of the ad hoc delegates as our supporters who bought forms to be adhoc delegates were excluded from the process. This position they have stated in a formal protest to the national headquarters of our party and have also sought redress.
“This statement would have been issued much earlier than now but we were waiting and hoping that the President would assent to the amended electoral bill 2022 which would have corrected the oversight. As of this morning, Mr President is yet to assent to it.”
He, however, thanked the supporters for standing by him and promised to communicate the way forward in the coming weeks after wider consultations.
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