By Onyeanya Immaculata
The APC Media Network has criticised the Speaker of the Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly, Mr Udeme Otong, over comments in a viral video in which he claimed control of the All Progressives Congress (APC), House of Assembly tickets for the 2027 general election.
In a statement issued Tuesday in Uyo, the group’s Director-General, Mr Iniobong John, described the remarks as provocative, undemocratic, and offensive to party members, and demanded an immediate retraction and unreserved apology.
The video, in which Otong spoke in Ibibio during a meeting with constituents, showed him claiming that all 26 APC House of Assembly tickets for 2027 were “in his pocket” and that no aspirant could secure the party’s ticket without his endorsement.
Reacting, the APC Media Network said the comments undermined internal party democracy and falsely portrayed the APC as a personal enterprise.
It stressed that Otong had no constitutional authority to determine party candidacies, noting that such powers rest with the party’s duly constituted organs.
The group urged the APC national leadership to intervene and ensure that candidates for the 2027 elections emerge through transparent and competitive processes in line with the party’s constitution, insisting that party supremacy must prevail.
