The All Progressives Congress in Akwa Ibom State chapter’s ward congress has been marred by protests.

Suspected supporters of the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Senator Godswill Akpabio, on Saturday besieged the party secretariat, along Ikot Ekpene Road, Uyo, the Akwa Ibom State capital, calling for the cancellation of the ward congress exercise, The PUNCH reports.

They alleged that the National Caretaker Secretary, Senator John Udoedehe, had “fraudulently manipulated the lists to include only his loyalists as candidates for the wards and chapter congresses.”

The protesters had set bonfires outside the party secretariat causing heavy traffic in the state and displayed placards of various inscriptions.

Some of the inscriptions read “Udoedehe cannot decide for us in Akwa Ibom”, “The list cannot stand”, “We reject this shambolic manipulation by one man”, “These congresses cannot hold” and “Enough of one-man dictatorship in Akwa Ibom APC,”

A youths activist Mr Effiong Bassey who addressed the supporters during the protests described the exercise as a sham, adding that they will not tolerate a situation where one man hijacks the whole process.