2015: Akpabio in mind-bending desperation 1. Comments and actions by Governor Godswill Akpabio of Akwa Ibom State during and since the South-South integration and reconciliation meeting of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Abuja on Wednesday, 8 October 2014, have shown that the governor is in a mind-bending state of desperation. The governor and his supporters have disturbed the peace of Uyo and indeed the entire state with hollow celebrations, claiming that they have returned victorious from battle in Abuja. They claimed that at the integration and reconciliation meeting the national leadership of the Party confirmed Paul Ekpo as the authentic chairman of the Party in the state, and that Atuekong Don Etiebet, BOT member, escaped suspension from the Party by whiskers. 2. We would like the good people of Akwa Ibom State to note that these claims by Akpabio and his spin doctors are far from the truth. How could any sane person, who is not hallucinating, think he would be taken seriously by claiming victory when the jury is still out? The integration and reconciliation committee has yet to summit its report based on the presentations by the various parties to the conflict in the state PDP. This victory dance by Akpabio is an act of dementia, very much like that of the mad king who reportedly danced naked in the market square. 3. Akpabio and his handpicked aspirant won nothing, absolutely nothing, going by what happened at the meeting, which was a very brief affair and could not have resolved the mountain of issues raised by the various parties in the argument. 4. What happened was that HE Obong (Arc) Victor Attah and Atuekong Don Etiebet, both BOT members, along with other elders of the Party made presentations which in effect called for a level playing field for all the aspirants in the Party, a position that is consistent with the stance of the national leadership of the Party. The distinguished elders further stressed this position in separate interviews on NTA and AIT. Two other high points were that the meeting was shocked to discover that membership registers of the Party from 329 wards were taken away six months ago by Governor Akpabio in a devious design to prevent new members from joining the Party; and Chief Paul Ekpo, state party chairman, was advised by party elders to be a fair umpire to all the aspirants or face a sack from his position as chairman. We would therefore like to call on the Party to take immediate and appropriate action by ensuring that membership registers are immediately returned to their respective wards for continuing registration of new members. 5. Given the facts of what transpired in Abuja on Wednesday, 8 October 2014, we are left wondering what the governor is celebrating. Is he celebrating the fact that while other governors are rebuilding the Party by reconciling it with aggrieved members, he is busy destroying the Party by wickedly preventing the registration of new members in the last six months and by driving away foundation members of the Party and most of the party elders in the state? Is he celebrating the fact that he missed a golden opportunity to make peace with Elders and key Stakeholders who founded the Party? Is he celebrating the fact that the state is indebted to banks to the tune of N100 billion and to contractors for N400 billion, making most of the contractors to demobolise from sites and leave the state, in spite of the fact that Akwa Ibom State is the highest revenue earner in the country from the federation account? 6. Is Akpabio celebrating the fact that he has not completed any projects his administration initiated in spite of the fact that his government has received about N2 trillion in the last seven years? Is Akpabio celebrating the sad and criminal fact that his administration is going to run its course without completing any of its key projects, which include the international terminal building of Ibom Airport and its taxiway, for which contracts were awarded with fanfare but which the contractor has abandoned for lack of funding; is he celebrating the fact that the Tropicana Centre project started in 2008 is still not completed and the contractor (ITB) which handled the hotel and the international conference centre which were designed to be the centre pieces of the complex has since moved out of site; or is he celebrating the fact that the 20th Anniversary Hospital started in 2007 is still not completed? 7. Akpabio should tell Akwa Ibom people what he is celebrating. Is he celebrating the fact that he has not held even one meeting of the state executive council this year, apart from the EXCO meeting at the end of last year to consider the 2014 budget, a breach that is clearly an impeachable offence, going by the provision of the Constitution of the nation? 8. For paragraph“8” above we hereby call on the State House of Assembly to begin impeachment proceedings against Governor Akpabio without further delay. 9. We would like to ask for the umpteenth time why Akpabio is so desperate about the 2015 gubernatorial election when he is not a candidate in the election. During the reconciliation meeting in Abuja, Akpabio bused a large crowd of Akwa Ibom people to the federal capital and camped them in Chief EK Clark’s house as part of a systematic pressure on the elder statesman to help Akpabio impose Udom Emmanuel, his handpicked successor, on Akwa Ibom people. And this is a great irony, because Chief EK Clark himself has repeatedly said he would not tolerate the imposition of any candidate in his state of Delta State and has repeatedly called for a level playing field for all aspirants. Which other governor in Nigeria, apart from Akpabio has invaded Chief EK Clark’s house with rented crowd to present a handpicked successor? Why is Governor Akpabio so desperate? 10. We are shocked and dismayed to find out that the governor deliberately misled Elder Statesman Clark by pleading the case of zoning without telling him that when he, Akpabio contested and won gubernatorial elections in 2007 and 2011, there was no zoning; that all the three senatorial districts in the state fielded candidates; and that two of the candidates, one each from Eket Senatorial District and Uyo Senatorial District, are still in court contesting the outcome of the election of 2011 against Akpabio from Ikot Ekpene Senatorial District. The governor failed to guide Chief Clark correctly by not telling him that Eket Senatorial District had produced governors in the past, Chief UJ Esuene and Dr Clement Isong, who together ruled for a total of 13 years in the then South Eastern and former Cross River State. At that time Uyo and Ikot Ekpene senatorial districts did not produce any governor. 11. In one of the most bizarre acts of desperation, Akpabio staged an unbelievable drama on Monday this week when his handpicked successor, Udom Emmanuel went to consult the state chapter of ALGON in Uyo. As the meeting was going on in the house of the state chairman of ALGON, Akpabio called Emmanuel Enoidem, his commissioner for special duties, who put the phone on speaker for the governor to address the meeting. The governor indeed addressed the meeting and told them to hold on for the national deputy chairman of the Party, Chief Uche Secondus. Another voice came on the line and introduced himself as Chief Secondus, national deputy chairman of the PDP. He greeted and told the meeting he was speaking on behalf of the Presidency and the national chairman of the Party, declaring that Akpabio would impose Udom Emmanuel, secretary to the state government, as his successor, whether Akwa Ibom people like it or not. 12. We believe the man who introduced himself as Chief Secondus was an impostor and not the Deputy National Chairman of the PDP whom we know to be a forthright man of honour who would not do anything to undermine a clearly stated principle of the Party to hold open, free, fair and transparent primaries. We therefore hereby call on Chief Secondus to clear the air on the issue to protect his hard-earned reputation. 13. Why is Akpabio so desperate as to indulge in all these shenanigans, which are clearly unprecedented in the annals of electoral politics in Akwa Ibom State?
Posted on: Sun, 04 Jan 2015 18:53:58 +0000
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