Eastern Obolo Boils as Former Commissioner Plots to Impose Son as Consensus Chairmanship Candidate ... We Appeal To Governor To call Sir Adasi Ubulom To Order -Stakeholders

 

There appears to be fire on the mountain in Eastern Obolo local government area the source of which is traced to one man, Sir Adasi Ubulom over his alleged plot to impose his son, Comrade Emigbanam  Adasi Ubulom as Consensus chairmanship Candidate  for the forthcoming 2024  local government elections. 

Prominent and concerned stakeholders and youth of the oil-rich local government have condemned  the move, saying it is against the collective will and expectations of the people.

They added that whoever shall emerge as the PDP chairmanship Candidate of the local government must be a product of existing democratic norms and strict adherence to extant principle of due process, wide consultation and endorsement by all stakeholders   that have been the catalyst for the sustainable peace in the area. 

Findings indicated that Sir  Adasi Ubulom, who doubles as Chairman, Advisory Council on Prerogative of Mercy and Chairman, Eastern Obolo PDP Ward Leaders Forum has held several top-notch positions at the local government and State levels, including being a Commissioner  in the State Executive Council and Member of Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly representing Ikot Abasi/ Eastern Obolo State Constituency and currently the Chairman, Advisory Council on Prerogative of Mercy. 

 It was gathered that the moves Sir Adasi Ubulom is purported to be spearheading is already creating bad blood and heating up the polity as the Stakeholders  have vowed not to live to see one man, whom they said has lived all his life on government , cajole them and forcefully foist his Son on the Local government and perpetuate himself like an emperor over a conquered territory, regardless of fundamental guidelines and the spirit of democracy. 

It was gathered that the moves by the former lawmaker may not be unconnected with the recent elongation of tenure for the Transition Committee Chairmen and Members of local government council by additional six months by the Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly.

 It was gathered that, the period, amongst other considerations, was meant to allow the State’s mandated electoral body, AKISIEC, conclude modalities for  the conduct of local government elections potentially scheduled for October, 2024. 

It was learnt that following the announcement, Sir  Adasi Ubulom has been consulting his Ward leaders and has shown no pretense in his determination to alter the status quo and have his way with his son, boasting openly that it is now his turn to  single-handedly produce the next Executive Chairman of Eastern Obolo Local Government Area.

Because of the tension this has already created, there are complaints that the peace that Eastern Obolo hitherto experienced has been threatened, even affecting the productivity level of staff of the local government secretariat many of whom are alleged to have shifted their focus more on matters relating to the next election.

Giving insight into Adasi Ubulom’s modus operandi, a prominent politician and stakeholder from the Local Government Area  who pleaded anonymity, disclosed that on Thursday June 13, Sir Adasi Ubulom sent text messages to selected PDP ward leaders in the local government , inviting them to a meeting at his Uyo residence at Afaha road under the decoy of Eastern Obolo Ward Leaders Forum to give a semblance of genuineness. 

It was further gleaned that it was at the said meeting that Adasi Ubulom sold to the invitees the idea of adopting his son, Comrade Emigbanam Adasi Ubulom, a staff of the Local Government Service Commission, as  the Consensus chairmanship  Candidate for  Eastern  Obolo the Local Government Area in the envisaged election. 

In a chat with our reporter another source who spoke on the condition of anonymity hinted that the fallout of the meeting was when some invitees raised eye brows over what they called “contemptuous neglect and conspicuous absence of key stakeholders of PDP in the local government  at the meeting”. 

The missing names at the meeting included Member representing Ikot Abasi/Eastern Obolo State Constituency in the State House of Assembly, Hon. Selinah Isotuk Ukpatu; Transition Chairman, Hon. Uro Bills Nango as well as his predecessor and immediate past Executive Chairman, Hon Abraham Odion respectively; former Transition Chairman, Prof.Gibson Okworo; and former Commissioner of Local Government Service Commission, Hon. Daniel Loveday Ekoyork were not also invited to the botched meet at Sir Adasi Ubulom’s residence.

Others missing stakeholders were Hon. Blessing Isotuk and Dr. John Ukpatu.

It was learnt that the atmosphere at the venue suddenly became tensed and Sir Adasi Ubulum wore a grim face of guilt when some stakeholders on getting winds of the meeting decided to storm  the venue of the endorsement meet which ended in fiasco.

 Confronted on the essence of the meeting without the involvement of relevant Stakeholders, Adasi Ubulom is said to have flared up in his vain defense that it was his turn to produce the next Executive chairman of the local government. 

Angered by what transpired at the meeting, former leader of legislative council in Eastern Obolo, Hon, Hezekiah Uteile who was said to have rejected every enticement from the host on finding out the truth, disclosed that the meeting ended in a fiasco when some invitees got to know Adasi’s hidden agenda. “It is the height of selfishness, greed and oppression for an individual to think of carjoling a few Ward leaders into adopting his Son as Consensus Chairmanship  Candidate in the October 24, 2024 Local Government Elections.", he swiftly remarked.

Another stakeholder who also pleaded anonymity said he was surprised that Adasi Ubulom who mouths fairness and equity on grandstands, a longstanding cleric and National President of Methodist Men’s Fellowship of Nigeria, could be so covetous and unpatriotic to plot such a move. His words, “What has Ubulom not been in this State across all levels. With this current action, he has  clearly proven himself as a politician who is more concerned about himself and family.  Even if he had such utopian ambition, why putting the cart before the horse, to scuttle popular will?  It is a pity”.

Fuming on sighting Honourable Member representing Ikot Abasi/ Eastern Obolo State Constituency in Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly, Hon. Selinah Ukpatu and others in his compound while the purported meeting was ongoing, Sir Adasi asked the stakeholders at his residents who were not invited to the meeting why they should protest against his decision to produce the next executive chairman of the local government area when an individual in the local government single-handedly  produced two  Chairmen of the Local Government Area in quick succession without Stakeholders protesting?.

He vowed that he will ensure his son is made the next executive chairman of Eastern Obolo with or without the Stakeholders of the local government area .

The Stakeholders while Congratulating Governor Umo Eno on his phenomenal first year in office and the developmental model of having at least a project in each of the 31 local government areas for equitable spread of dividends of democracy in the state, however pleaded with the governor to call Sir Adasi  Ubulom to order so as not to disrupt the peace and fortunes of PDP in Eastern Obolo.