Stakeholders insist on Reps seat for Ibesikpo Asutan ahead of 2027 polls

Tony Okoh, Uyo

Leaders, political stakeholders, business figures, and key power brokers from the four local government areas of Uyo, Ibesikpo Asutan, Uruan, and Nsit Atai, which make up the Uyo Federal Constituency of Akwa Ibom State, have unanimously called for the emergence of an indigene of Ibesikpo Asutan as the area’s representative in the House of Representatives ahead of the 2027 general elections.

In a meeting held yesterday in Uyo,
speaker after speaker warned that the constituency stands at a delicate crossroads, stressing that justice deferred any longer may become peace denied.

A two-time Supervisor from Uruan LGA, Hon. Joshua Basil, made a passionate appeal for Ibesikpo Asutan to be given a chance to produce a member of the House of Representatives in 2027

He said, “Let your dream be Ibesikpo Asutan in 2027,” stressing that denying Ibesikpo Asutan its turn is not merely a political miscalculation, but an affront to history.

Basil, who challenged the legitimacy of any third-term ambition from the current occupant of the seat from Nsit Atai, stressed that such a move would amount to a direct violation of the zoning ethos that brought the office within his reach in the first place.

“Nsit Atai has had its turn twice,” he advised. “Equity demands restraint. Anything else is political overreach dressed up as entitlement.”

He added, “Disrupting the sequence not only marginalizes Ibesikpo Asutan, but it’s also distorts the expectations of Uruan people, which stands next in line. In essence, tampering with the arrangement risks triggering a chain reaction of grievances across the constituency.

Dean of Ward, Personal Assistants to the Governor, Hon. Nazareth Udoh, reinforced the point with institutional clarity.

According to him, the peace Uyo Federal Constituency currently enjoys is not accidental; it is engineered through mutual respect for zoning.

“No individual ambition,” he cautioned, “should be allowed to override a system that has delivered stability.”

Former Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP), Chapter Chairman, Hon. Okon Joshua,said they cannot upend the rotation principle.

“The same arrangement that produced the current representative cannot suddenly become inconvenient,” he argued.

According to him, denying Ibesikpo Asutan in 2027 would not just be unfair, it would be a betrayal of the very logic that has governed representation in the constituency.

Obong Anietie Udoeyop said Ibesikpo Asutan’s restraint over the past two decades should not be misread as political docility.

According to him, the narrative of entitlement being subtly advanced by some quarters collapses under the weight of electoral reality.

Drawing from the 2023 general elections, Udoeyop revealed that Nsit Atai, the home base of the incumbent, who has reportedly nursed ambitions of stretching his stay to three terms before entertaining any zoning conversation, could only muster a paltry 9,938 votes.

In stark contrast, Ibesikpo Asutan delivered 15,334 votes, a margin he argued speaks volumes about both political strength and moral legitimacy.

He dismissed any suggestion that Ibesikpo Asutan should be consigned to wait nearly three decades. 28 years by projection, before accessing representation at the National Assembly.

“That is not zoning; it is structured exclusion,” he said.

He called on Governor Umo Eno to rise above local intrigues and intervene decisively, expressing confidence in the governor’s commitment to fairness and justice.

“We have waited for 24 years,” he reiterated, “We believe the Governor will listen to the cry for justice and ensure that what is right is done.”

He added, “The patience of Ibesikpo Asutan people, long praised as a virtue, may not remain inexhaustible if justice continues to be postponed under the guise of political convenience’.

According to the host of the event, Obong Usen Edet Matthew, “What we are saying is simple, ‘Let what others preserved be sustained, zoning in Uyo Federal Constituency is not codified in law, yet it commands a loyalty stronger than statute. It survives on trust, and trust, once broken, is notoriously difficult to rebuild.’

Our correspondent gathered that at the centre of the agitation lies the long-standing zoning arrangement, an unwritten but deeply respected covenant that has, for decades, served as the glue binding together competing interests within the constituency.

That arrangement, according to stakeholders, is the very mechanism that has prevented political domination, fostered inclusion, and sustained relative calm.