Akwa Ibom youth group rejects Gov. Udom’s chosen candidate, says its imposition

A youth group in Akwa Ibom State under the aegies of Akwa Ibom Youth Mandate (AIYM) has rejected the anointed candidate of Governor Udom Emmanuel, Pastor Umoh Enoh, saying the Commissioner for Lands and Water Resources does not have their support.

The group which reacted to the announcement of Enoh as the successor to Emmanuel in 2023, said they will rather give their backing to a member of the House of Representatives, Onofiok Luke.

Governor Emmanuel had, on Sunday during a Stakeholders’ Meeting of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), at the Governor’s Lodge in Uyo, announced Enoh as the person to succeed him in office in 2023, and presented him to the party for adoption and support.

But in a statement after its emergency meeting in Uyo on Tuesday, the Youth Mandate said it rejected the ‘purported candidacy of Pastor Eno,’ describing the exercise of his emergence as an “imposition against the collective will of six million population of people in state.”

READ ALSO: Crisis looms in A’Ibom PDP over Gov Udom’s move to impose Umoh as successor

The statement signed by the Speaker of the South-South Youth Assembly on behalf of the AIYM, Victor Sage Thompson, which was made available to Ripples Nigeria on Wednesday, said:

“We were shocked with the news that stakeholders of Akwa Ibom State have come together to choose a successor for 6 million people of Akwa Ibom State and we wondered why that was so?

“We have witnessed everything that has gone on in this state for the past few years and as youths, as people who have been made with direct impact of every government policies, every government decisions, every situations and every happenings, we believe we should have a say on who should be our governor and who should lead us in the next election cycle.

“So that being said, we are here in consonance with what the stakeholders have done, because you believe that fathers are for directions, sons are for speed.

“The stakeholders have given us a direction and have told us that, it is possible to anoint an adopt a candidate.

“As young people, we feel it is also possible to anoint and adopt our own candidate.

“So in our position, we have adopted the immediate past Speaker of the State House of Assembly member and currently, member representing Etinan/Nsit Ubium in the House of Representatives, Abuja, Rt. Hon. Onofiok Luke, as our preferred candidate to succeed as the next governor of the state.

“The Akwa Ibom Youth Mandate has taken a stand and we believe this resonates with the majority of young people in Akwa Ibom State.

“We have assessed and examined the process of leadership recruitment in Akwa Ibom State; we have examined and assessed every aspirant seeking to occupy the office of the governor of Akwa Ibom State and we have come to a conclusion that it is only one person that meets our criteria.”

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