By Mark Lenu
IYC Eastern Zone has elected Prince Datolu Sukubo as chairman, despite the vicious attempt by some thugs to make the election unsuccessful.
The thugs were said to be members of the Iceland cult group working with some of the chairmanship aspirants who lost in the election.
Trouble started when the chairmanship position of the IYC Eastern Zone was zoned to the Kalabari ethnic nationality and Sukubo was unanimously endorsed for the position by the people of Kalabari.
It was gathered that some aspirants who could not get the endorsement of the Kalabari people were fumed and decided to use cultists to disrupt the election through the aid of their political masters,
The election which was earlier scheduled to hold on September 7 in the Opobo hometown of Governor Siminalayi Fubara was rescheduled to September 14 as the venue was also shifted to the Abuloma axis of Port Harcourt to pave the way for the trigger-happy cultists to unleash terror on innocent election participants.
Narrating the incident to our correspondent, a top leader of IYC Kalabari Se-Ikpangi, Comrade Biokpo West who witnessed the chaotic election was quoted as saying that: “As God may have it, the election still went on and Comrade Datolu Sukubo was declared the winner of IYC Eastern Zone chairmanship.
“We went to the venue of the election at Abuloma, Port Harcourt to peacefully participate in the IYC Eastern Zone election and we met some well-armed cultists already waiting for us. As soon as we alighted from our vehicles, the cultists opened fire on us with live bullets, chanting; ‘Chase them out chase them out.”‘
In his victory speech, the newly elected chairman, IYC Eastern Zone, Sukubo expressed gratitude to God and commended the Edi-Abali of Kalabari Kingdom, Alhaji Mujahid Dokubo Asari who did not allow violence to steal the election.
Sukubo said, “We thank God Almighty for making this day a reality. It is a victory for all because the victory came from God. The victory is to rebrand IYC. And let’s enthrone collective leadership to rebuild iYC for all of us.”
The brand new IYC Eastern Zone chairman also described Alhaji Asari as a man whose integrity is inbuilt, saying that Alhaji Asari, “is a man that is liberal. He is a man with higher wisdom. God has blessed him with wisdom and his existence in Ijaw nation is a pride to us all.
“We will continue to pray for him. He has proven himself worthy as the father of Ijaw nation and the pyramid of all time. I lack words to describe our Edi-Abali of Kalabari Kingdom. He is indeed our supreme pyramid.”
