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By Nse Peter
1. President
Goodluck Jonathan’s refusal to accept PDP governors to choose their successors is
the latest and perhaps the biggest bad news for Governor Godswill Akpabio who
seems to have reached a point-of-no-return in his ambition to foist former Akwa
Ibom SSG, Mr. Udom Emmanuel on the people as their next governor in 2015. The
Nation newspaper quoted President Jonathan telling Akpabio and other PDP
governors in a recent meeting with them at the Presidential Villa, “‘I cannot
take chances; the PDP cannot take chances. We are interested in those who will
be governors in 2015. You should not field unpopular candidates or else the
party will lose.” (In case you missed the story, read it here.)
The
Nation reported that Jonathan was very blunt in telling the PDP governors
that since most of them are completing their two terms in office, he would be
the one to work with their successors, and therefore they (Akpabio and other
governors) should allow him (Jonathan) and the party to control the process of
picking PDP candidates for the 2015 governorship elections.
“According to a source, who spoke
in confidence, although the President said there was nothing bad in the governors having interest in their
successors, they should put the party’s interest and survival above personal
issues,” The Nation newspaper
reported.
2. The
recent utterances of the National Chairman of PDP, Ahlaji Adamu Muazu, gives
the impression that the party chairman and President Jonathan may have jointly
taken a hard stand not to allow the PDP governors form themselves into a tiny,
but powerful cabal capable of rocking the boat in the next administration. When
the PDP governors led by Governor Godswill Akpabio met early this month with
Adamu Muazu to put pressure on the party chairman to give all of them automatic
tickets to the Senate, Muazu, according to a report published in The Nation, told Godswill Akpabio and
other PDP governors that ‘the party needed the experience of its ranking
senators in the next dispensation, for stability of the government.’
‘Muazu was said to have been miffed by the
governors’ position, particularly when they were said to have insisted on
fielding their preferred candidates as their successors in the coming elections,’
The Nation reported, adding that ‘the
party chair was said to have pleaded with the governors to cede the
governorship tickets to the senators they wish to replace, a plea that was said
to have angered the governors.’
3. The
withdrawal of Godswill Akpabio’s Information Commissioner, Mr. Aniekan Umanah
from the House of Reps contest, Abak Federal Constituency, shouldn’t be seen as
a mere political happening; it’s a sign of the formidable opposition against
Akpabio in the local government areas that is generally referred to as ‘Abak 5’. From the pieces of information gathered by Think Akwa Ibom!, Akpabio was compelled to ask Aniekan Umanah to drop
his House of Reps ambition after an independent fact finder he (Akpabio) had commissioned
told Akpabio how Abak people were planning to politically humiliate the
governor and anybody associated with him, at the poll. Akpabio is said to have
been shocked to learn that Aniekan Umanah, one of his most trusted and ‘high
performing ‘commissioners didn’t have any political support even among family
members in Abak. The fact finder, said
to be a former military governor of Akwa Ibom State, revealed to Akpabio that
there was urgent need for much work if Aniekan Umanah, Udom Emmanuel and
Akpabio himself must get the votes of party delegates in Abak 5 for 2015
elections. That explains why the governor hurriedly went to Abak last week to
do the ground-breaking ceremony for a new Independence Hall that will replace
the one he demolished in 2009 against the public outcry. (In case you missed the story, read it here.)
4. The
inability of Governor Godswill Akpabio to force the Akwa Ibom Youth Caucus to
endorse the governorship aspiration of Mr. Udom Emmanuel is the biggest proof
that Akpabio has unfortunately lost the loyalty and support of youths in the
state. When the chairman of the Youth Caucus and the governor’s Personal
Assistant on Youth Mobilization, Mr.
Emmanuel Ekpenyong tried in September 4, 2014 to coerce members of the youth
body to sign a press statement that said Udom Emmanuel had been endorsed by
youths across the state, he (Emmanuel Ekpenyong) was shouted down by the
Secretary General of the group, Mr. Emmanuel Ikpe, the Deputy Chairman, Mr.
Bassey Uwah, the P.R.O, Mr. Leo Leo Umanah and Mr. Anthony Bassey John, the
Director of Security, including several other youth leaders who were present in
the meeting at the youth caucus secretariat, No. 2 Udosen Uko Street, Uyo. Emmanuel
Ekpenyong was cautioned to drop the idea of the Akwa Ibom State Youth Caucus
endorsing Udom Emmanuel or risk impeachment.
He heeded the warning. After the incident, Mr. Ekpenyong hurriedly
formed what he called Coalition of Akwa Ibom Youth Leaders, an unregistered
group which he is using to do the bidding of Governor Akpabio.
5. Surprising
signals are coming out these days from Governor Godswill Akpabio’s Essien Udim
Local Government Area. First, the Chapter Chairman of PDP in Essien Udim, Mr.
Friday Udoh brushed aside Akpabio’s overbearing influence and directive, to
receive Senator Helen Esuene and her governorship campaign team. Next, senior
politicians from Essien Udim under the aegis of Essien Udim Council on
Political Affairs disowned Akpabio over his political sins, and then went ahead
to apologise to former governor, Obong Victor Attah, Chief Don Etiebet, Mr.
Umana Okon Umana, Obong Bassey Albert Akpan, Obong Nsima Ekere and other
politicians who have been humiliated by Akpabio. Now, the news of Akpabio’s war
with his erstwhile core-supporter, Chief Sunny Ibanga is sending shocks across
the state. It is very certain that Godswill Akpabio’s empire is collapsing by
the day.
6. Check
it out yourself, most of those politicians that were once classified as diehard
loyalists of Akpabio are now distancing themselves away from the governor. Mr.
Ekerette Ekpenyong, the chairman, Uyo Local Government Council, is now talking
the ‘interest’ of Uyo people, not Akpabio’s interest. Mr. Enobong Uwah, the
commissioner for Environments, has embraced silence as a virtue. Even the
talkative commissioner for transport, Mr. Godwin Ntukudeh seems to have
disappeared from the political scene. One thing all of them have in common is
this: they are still Akpabio’s loyalists. They know the governor is sinking,
and they don’t want to go down with him.
7. Here’s the picture of the Godswill Akpabio
that we have come to know. Akpabio will cause a catastrophic disturbance in a
community and will at the same time rush to have ‘a very crucial’ meeting with
the Inspector General of police or Police Commissioner and will get his
propaganda team to publish the photos of him with the police authorities in
several newspapers and Internet, so as to tell the people ‘hey, these police
guys are with me on this one, so don’t you dare try to bring them in.’ Alright,
let’s check out one real example. Governor Akpabio arrested and locked up the
editor of Global Concord, Mr. Thomas
Thomas, some months ago. While the journalist was being incarcerated, the
governor rushed to do the ground-breaking ceremony for a new building at the
Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) press centre and promised to release N100
Million for the completion of the new edifice. The governor’s obvious message
to the public was thus, ‘Hey, forget Thomas Thomas! I am a press friendly
governor!’ Akpabio, that we know, does not run around people, using them to
make obvious public statements, except he knows that something big is about to
hit him. We can tell you, something big has hit Godswill Akpabio, and that is
why you see his propaganda team publishing at every turn, the photographs of
the governor praying with President Jonathan in Jerusalem. Something big? Yes,
something as big as President Jonathan and the national leadership of PDP not
buying into the idea that Akpabio’s nominee should become the next governor of
Akwa Ibom State!
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