A member of Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly, Asuquo Archibong, has ambushed a local party leader, Okokon Iyanam, and forcefully collected a car from the politician.
Mr. Archibong, who represents Urue Offong Oruko state constituency, had donated cars and other items to his constituents as part of his empowerment programme.
Mr. Iyanam, a former chairman of Urue Offong Oruko Local Government Area and current secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the council area was one of the beneficiaries of the empowerment initiative.
But on Thursday, Mr. Archibong waylaid the party chieftain, who was returning from a meeting by another aspirant for the Urue Offong Oruko state constituency seat.
Recounting what happened to our correspondent, Mr. Iyanam said the lawmaker intercepted him at Efiat Lane in Oron town.
“I think he was laying an ambush for me. I was driving out of the premises of the meeting when Asukwo Archibong intercepted me with his official vehicle with four armed Mobil policemen as well as his Personal Assistant,” said the party chieftain.
“They asked me to come out of the vehicle, as I came out, one of them immediately jumped into the car and drove off. Some people who were at the street at that time saw when it happened. He did not give me the receipt of the vehicle.
“He knows what he is doing. He was careful not to give the receipt for any of the empowerment items to any beneficiaries,” he explained.
The PDP chieftain said no reason was given on why the car that was freely given to him was being withdrawn.
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Mr. Archibong was elected under the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in 2015 but later defected to the PDP, where he is said to be campaigning for a second term against permutations by stakeholders in the area.
The people of the area were said to have voted for him in a protest against the alleged imposition of a candidate by the PDP.
Reacting to the development, a constituent, Isaac Mefo, took to the social media and lambasted the state lawmaker for disgracing the PDP chieftain.
Mr. Mefo described the action as “unfortunate, barbaric and shameful,” and called on the state Governor, Udom Emmanuel, the Speaker of the state assembly, Onofiok Luke and the media to speak up against it.
In a Facebook post, Mr. Mefo wrote, “What a barbaric and shameful act by Hon. Asukwo Archibong, Member Rep Urue Offong/Oruko in AKHA?”
“I received a call yesterday that the so-called car gift Hon. Archibong gave to Hon Iyanam, current PDP chapter secretary and former head of the council, during his constituency briefing was retrieved from him yesterday.
“He said that Hon Iyanam is not supporting his second term bid. The Governor, Deacon Udom Emmanuel, The Speaker of AKHA, Rt (Hon) Onofiok Luke and the Akwa Ibom State Media Community must hear this.”
Meanwhile, attempts to speak with the lawmaker failed as he would neither pick calls or respond to a text message from our correspondent.
