By Esseh Ikora
Akwa Ibom State All Progressives Congress(APC) Governorship aspirant, in the forthcoming 2019 governorship election, Barrister Asuquo Okpo, has commended Governor Udom Emmanuel for appointing Dr. Emmanuel Ekuwem as Secretary to the State government but added that the Oro people need governorship seat not SSG.
Okpo however admitted that the appointment of the Ekuwem from the Oron extraction has corrected the over 20 years of imbalance in political appointment in the state.
Speaking in Uyo at the weekend, the aspirant recalled that Chief Okokon Antigha was the only man from Oro nation who served as secretary to the state government 20 years ago.
However, he said the appointment has not stopped the marginalization of his Oro people.
Okpo maintained that the Oro people would not sacrifice their aspiration for governorship of the state on the altar of SSG’s appointment, stressing that his people would continue to press until every trait of marginalization is erased in 2019 with the emergence of one of them as Governor of Akwa Ibom state.
According to him the appointment of the SSG is the beginning of the actualization of the hopes of the Oro people of clinching the coveted seat in 2019.
Okpo based his calculation on the premise that, “Governor Udom Emmanuel was appointed secretary to the state government by Akpabio, and it eventually paved the way for his eventual emergence as the executive governor of the state.
“The appointment of an Oro man as the SSG will equally open the way for the emergence of the state governor from the Oro extraction” he maintained.
Okpo who decamped to APC after the 2015 PDP primaries was among the 22 PDP Governorship aspirants who walked out of Godwill Akpabio International Stadium venue of the PDP Governorship primaries, citing impunity and imposition of Governorship candidate in the state as reason for his defection.
