As APC-backed YPP Candidates Sweep Rerun Polls,
A major political statement was made on Saturday in Akwa Ibom State during the rerun elections into the Ikono/Ini Federal Constituency and Ibiono Ibom State Constituency. The All Progressives Congress (APC)-backed Young Progressives Party (YPP) candidates emerged as winners after the rerun polls.
The victory of the YPP candidate, Hon. Emmanuel Ukpong-Udo, has increased the House of Representatives seats won by the APC/YPP coalition in Akwa Ibom North-West Senatorial District to three out of four, where the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, represents.
Another APC-backed candidate for Ibiono Ibom State Constituency, in Uyo Senatorial District, Hon. Moses Essien, was also returned as the duly elected member of the State House of Assembly.
Recall that the entire structure of the YPP, from the wards to the state, including its governorship candidate, Senator Bassey Albert Akpan, and his running mate, Assistant Inspector General of Police (rtd) Asuquo Amba, collapsed into the APC publicly at the Political Pavilion of the President of the Senate in his Ukana home.
The victory of the two APC-backed candidates is seen in political circles as a masterstroke and a potent political message to the ruling party in the state, demonstrating the determination and readiness of the APC to take over the reins of government in 2027.
It was reliably gathered that Akpabio congratulated the duo immediately upon their announcement by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as winners in the two rerun elections. He was said to have described it as a demonstration of the people’s acceptance of the party in the state and the nation.
“Let me congratulate the victors at the rerun poll. Their victory is a demonstration of the endorsement of their representations at the National and State Assemblies, respectively. It is also a demonstration of the people’s acceptance of the party at the state and national levels. I thank the electorate for coming out in their thousands to cast their votes for their preferred candidates. This is just the beginning of the journey to take over the political leadership of the state and to finally link the state to the center,” he stated.
He called on the electorate to “continue to keep faith with the party by voting for the party and its candidates at all future elections, starting with the local government elections coming up later in the year.