Gen. Edet Akpan blasts Akpabio: “I don’t understand why the governor is desperate”

File Photo: Governor Godswill Akpabio

By Nse Peter

Edet Akpan, a retired major-general in the Nigerian army, is the latest high-ranking opinion leader in Akwa Ibom State to lambast Governor Godswill Akpabio over his leadership style which many people in the state of late have termed as either being too sectional, anti-people or self-centred.
Edet Akpan in a one-page advert placed in The Nation newspaper of Thursday, 7 August, 2014 berated Governor Godswill Akpabio over his comment during the  recent visit of PDP national chairman, Alhaji Adamu Mu’azu, that “those who want to take power through the backdoor will die. They will die, and PDP will continue . . .” (Read the transcript of Governor Akpabio’s speech here)

Adamu Mu’azu was in Uyo, the capital of Akwa Ibom State for the groundbreaking ceremony for a permanent PDP state secretariat.

Akpan says what he has been able to deduce from the governor’s remarks is that first, “Akpabio had empowered his chosen political sons in order for them to be loyal and serve the Governor’s interest at all costs!” Secondly, “the Governor (leader of his Party in the State) doesn’t believe that Governorship aspirants will go through the due process of primaries set up by his Party, rather he expects some aspirants to go through the backdoor!” Thirdly, “The Governor desires and surely expects his disloyal political sons to die!” And finally, “The Governor expects every Akwa Ibomite in the political process to follow him; nobody can have a different opinion, an indication that he doesn’t believe in democracy!”

Akpan says the deductions portray Akpabio as being agitated and desperate.

He stated, “I cannot understand why the Governor should be desperate. On the contrary, I expect his disloyal political sons to exhibit signs of desperation – the Governor commands immense personal and State resources to canvass support for his preferred candidate, whereas his political sons are seriously handicapped financially”.
“Luckily for the Governor, in today’s governance, there is no difference between personal resources and public treasury. And I also know that the Governor, for now, has a saleable aspirant. So what then is the Governor’s problem?”

Since his outburst before Mu’azu, Akpabio who is known for making reckless and controversial statements has been severely criticized by many indigenes of the state, including prominent PDP leaders like the Nigerian ambassador to Russia, Barr. Assam Assam (SAN) who has publicly advised the Secretary to Akwa Ibom State Government (SSG), Mr. Udom Emmanuel to disassociate himself from Akpabio’s deadly threat against political opponents. Mr. Udom Emmanuel has been handpicked by Akpabio to succeed him as governor in 2015. Assam Assam too is eyeing the governorship of the state in 2015.

Edet Akpan admits that Godswill Akpabio as an incumbent governor has the right to be interested in who succeeds him as the next governor of Akwa Ibom State, but that Akpabio himself must accept the tenet of democracy by allowing others to have their opinions.

“I have read in the print media your release that you never said you will kill anybody. I didn’t read that meaning either from your remarks. Yes, you never said you will kill anybody. But you expressed a clear desire for your disloyal political sons to die. These sons are in your age bracket and so we don’t expect them to die through aging process. The question some of your subjects would want an answer from you is, who and how do you expect them to die and by what means?”

(Please Click here, to read Gen. Edet Akpan’s open letter to Gov. Akpabio.)