Governor Udom Emmanuel not planning to defect to APC

Governor Udom Emmanuel of Akwa Ibom State will not defect from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressives Congress (APC), the Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Charles Udoh, has said.

He said the stories trending on the social media that Emmanuel intends to dump the PDP for the APC was not true.

Udoh, who was guest on a radio programme, said the governor was too principled to jump ship as many others did.

He added that Emmanuel, as a trustworthy and credible man, cannot speak from both sides of his mouth.

The commissioner stressed that Emmanuel will not allow political manoeuvres to taint his image which he spent years to build in the corporate world before his foray into public service.

He said: “For a man who has worked to the position of a Chief Financial Officer in Zenith Bank, one of the high flying financial institutions in Nigeria, his integrity cannot be taken for granted.

“He is trusted with money and enormous capacity. And, again, for Akwa Ibom State to be rated as the second best in Nigeria on Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), then investors must have trusted the integrity of the governor before sinking huge foreign currency into their investments in the state.”

On the freezing of Akwa Ibom State Government accounts that made news recently, Udoh said the  accounts were frozen on the orders of the EFCC without any prior notice or court summons. He said they were unfreezed, following the directives of the Vice Present. He added that the counter reaction on the issue by the EFCC was merely a face-saving ploy by the commission.

On the Ibom Deep Sea Port (IDSP), Udoh said work on the project is on the final stage on paper and that work on the super-highway leading to the seaport is ongoing, while tender for bid has already been made public for legitimate and qualified bidders.