PDP In Trouble Over Fake Claims By Vice- Chairmanship Candidate
By Emmanuel Uffot
Indications are rife that the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), may run into trouble waters in the forthcoming Local government election in Etim Ekpo Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State, if the controversy surrounding the documents submitted by the Vice-Chairmanship candidate for the Local Government Area are anything to go by.
Aniekan Akpan Akwa Ibom State PDP Chairman
Investigation by The Scroll has revealed that opposition parties in Etim Ekpo local government area of Akwa Ibom are waiting in the wings to win the incoming chairmanship election through petitions in the law court.
.The strategy, as we gathered from reliable sources in the main opposition All Progressive Congress (APC), as well as the Young Peoples Party (YPP) is based on allegation that the credentials of Mrs Choice Sunday Lazarus, the Vice Chairmanship Candidate of the party is fraught with discrepancies.
From the documents sighted by The Scroll, including Facebook profile, the PDP Vice Chairmanship candidate has three different names.
The alleged fraud in the personal data of the PDP Vice chairmanship candidate first came to the open in the current edition of TheMail, an Uyo-based newspaper.
The tabloid had reported two separate letters sent to Aniekan Akpan, the PDP Chairman in Akwa Ibom, and Emmanuel Enoidem, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) and Etim Ekpo political leader, by Ikono Clan Women Forum, of Etim Ekpo which called for the withdrawal and replacement of Lazarus, over alleged fake claim of place of origin.
The letters in question dated August 12, 2024 and signed by the president and secretary of the Ikono Women Forum, Christiana Christopher Udoakpan and Lady Mercy Udo, respectively.Which was addressed to the PDP state chairman, entitled “Request for withdrawal of the PDP Vice chairmanship candidature of Mrs Choice Sunday Lazarus in Etim Ekpo” was copied to Patience Umo Eno, the wife of Governor Umo Eno, among others.
Barrister Emmanuel Enoidem
Perhaps capitalising on sentiment of the age-long community clashes between Enoidem’s native land of Utu and Nsekhe village, said to be the paternal home of Mrs Lazarus, the letter to the “learned silk” drew his attention to history, particularly, the alleged removal of Etim Ekpo at the 11th hour among local government areas listed for creation in 1976 by a senior government official said to be a blood relative of the vice chairmanship candidate.
The letter to the PDP state chairman stated in part: “We write to draw your attention to the fact that Mrs Choice Sunday Lazarus is no longer an indigene of Etim Ekpo local government area, hence the need for her vice chairmanship candidature on the platform of the PDP in the LGA for the forth-council elections to be withdrawn.
“Our request is predicated on the fact that Mrs Choice Lazarus, who was an indigene of Etim Ekpo by marriage and has been occupying a number of political positions by virtue of that status has since lost that right.
“It is a fact that Mrs Choice Lazarus, a native of Nsekhe in Ukanafun, was married to late Sunday Lazarus of Ikot Obioama in Ikono Clan, Etim Ekpo LGA.
“Through her father, Mr Uduak Emmanuel Ukpanah, she filed for divorce in suit number UEEDC.12/2024 on May 14, 2024 at Akwa Ibom State Customary Court at Urua Ekpa Enang and her prayers were granted by the court.
“Following this, she had since packed all her belongings from her late husband’s family house and has changed her name as indicated in her Facebook profile of July 2024.
“By implications, her continuous occupying of any position (she is presently PA to Governor for Ward 3) slated for Indigenes of Etim Ekpo is amounting to criminal and unlawful act, usurpation and infringement on the right of Etim Ekpo people.
“If allowed to stand, it could also compromise the corporate identity of Etim Ekpo LGA.
“We are aware that other political parties are aware of her change in profile and status.”
In another letter sent to Enoidem, it stated “You need to be guided by what befell Etim Ekpo in 1976 in the process of local government creation in the then Cross River State by the same Ukanafun people.
“The natives of Etim Ekpo would not watch the Ukpanah family of Ukanafun terminate their daughter’s marriage in May 2024 only to return her in July to vie for vice chairman/or any position in the local government council.
“Please, let the sad history or anything of its kind not repeat and due diligence should be followed in selecting people into positions meant for Etim Ekpo people”, the letter to the SAN noted.
Meanwhile, a few days after the current edition of TheMail came to the news stand, another court document, entitled “Affidavit of Verification of Facts” is said to be in hands of the embattled vice chairmanship candidate.
The Scroll further sighted a newspaper publication, where her change of name was done.
The change of name stated thus: “I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Uyai Josiah Offiong, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs Choice Sunday Lazarus”.
A senior lawyer of Akwa Ibom origin, whose body language suggests that he has sympathy for the opposition party, told The Scroll that the newest court document is “an afterthought procured after the petition from the women group was brought to public knowledge”.
According to the lawyer, who is based in Lagos but preferred to remain anonymous, “the verification of Facts, as stated in the affidavit is suspicious that the procured document was obtained fraudulently to serve as check to the petitions made by Ikono Women Forum.”
The lawyer queried: “Why is verification of Facts in a document dated in June when no issue was raised about her place of origin?
“Where does the name Uyai Josiah Offiong comes from?
“Why is she still maintaining her Facebook profile as Uyai Josiah Offiong after she had publicised her change of name through newspaper?
The affidavit, which was deposed to by the same Uduak Emmanuel Ukpanah, stated in part: ‘That after about 12 years after the death of Sunday Lazarus Akpan, around the month of June 2024, precisely on the 26th day of June 2024, Mr Friday Ogbona Akpan from Ikot Obioama village, Ikono Clan in Etim Ekpo local government area came out and did a Customary marriage wherein it was witnessed by friends and well-wishers including those from my family and the family of Friday Ogbona Akpan.
“That on the 26th day of June 2024 she had also contracted a statutory marriage at the local government registry Abak.
The lawyer again queried “Why is she still maintaining the name of her deceased husband in the forms she filled for the local council election after she had divorced and claimed to have gone through the legal processes to legalize her present identity and status?”
He added that “it may be easy to procure document in Nigeria but defending it in the law court is a different thing entirely.
The bone of contention according to our findings which is the grouse of the people of Ikono Clan as canvassed by the women group is that since she had divorced her husband and consequently changed her name, she has lost that right as an indigene of the area to qualify her to be eligible to stand for the October 5, 2024 local government area election in Etim Ekpo Local Government Area.
The fears among the concerned PDP stakeholders, championing this issue is that even if PDP wins the election the party might loss in the court if the opposition now aware of the development goes to court armed with this to pursue their case.
Few weeks to the election, the PDP Chairman is yet to react to the petition of the Women Forum as at the time of this report.
