Why My Opponents Are Blackmailing Me – Nigerian Lawmaker, Enyong Blows Hot

Hon. Mike Enyong, the member representing Uyo federal constituency in Akwa Ibom State, who emerged governorship candidate of the People’s Democratic Party, PDP, in a parallel primary election has said his adversaries are blackmailing him because he beat them to their game.

Enyong who spoke in an interview bemoaned negative attacks on him on the social media because he had opted for a parallel gubernatorial primary where he had won with over 2000 votes out of 2,744 votes cast by statutory delegates to beat other contestants.

He advised his detractors to pull their energies into his drive to ensure Akwa Ibom remained in the grip of PDP beyond 2023, noting that he understood the implication of being part of the sham and opted for parallel primary.

He stressed that instead of criticising him, that his detractors and adversaries should  celebrate his patriotism and love for the PDP, as his action was the only reason the party would be on the ballot for the 2023 gubernatorial elections.

His words: “My adversaries are looking for every opportunity to blackmail and tarnish my hard-earned reputation because they know I have beaten them to their game.

“I am waiting for July 15th for the people to understand that I am the rightful candidate for the Peoples Democratic Party in Akwa ibom state. The court had asked for status quo ante bellum in the case brought before it over the fraudulent selection of some people as Adhoc delegates, but they went ahead and used them to pick their preferred aspirant.

“That Court order still subsists. As we speak today I am the rightful candidate of the party and the next governor of Akwa ibom state.

“But I understood the implication of being part of the sham and opted for a parallel primary with statutory delegates, with officials of Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as observers, and officials from the national secretariat of our dear party”.

The two-term member of the House of Representatives described as laughable the trending video of a youth alleging that he got a paltry sum of one thousand naira (N1000) after voting as a delegate in the governorship primary that produced him as PDP candidate saying that he wouldn’t give beggars on the street N1000, talk less of a politician.

”I don’t know him (the youth). They are using him to blackmail me, he is not part of the exercise, go and ask all statutory delegates that participated to get a clearer picture” He asserted.

He even cleared the air about his recent constituency empowerment  effort, stressing,

“I am already looking forward to having another round of empowerment to spread more democratic dividends to greater number of our people.

“Anybody claiming not to have received my empowerment after the last outing is either not part of the original list or failed to meet the guidelines streamlined for the beneficiaries to follow up and cash out the money. I am owing nobody”.