Akwa Ibom State Governor, Mr. Godswill Akpabio
The Akwa Ibom State Governor, Godswill Akpabio, has told whosoever cared to listen that his successor would emerge from Eket senatorial district. The other two senatorial districts namely, Uyo and Ikot –Ekpene, have each produced occupants of the Office of the Governor at various times. Perhaps to demonstrate his level of seriousness, the state chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party gave vent to his desire by zoning the 2015 governorship ticket to the district. However, not every member of the party is comfortable with this decision. In fact, some of the party’s leading figures such as Otuekong Jackson, Senator Aloysius Etuk, Ambassador Assam Assam (SAN), a former deputy governor, Chris Ekpenyong; a former minister, Obong Rita Akpan; and a former Speaker of the state House of Assembly, Peter Linus Umoh, among others, have taken their protest to the PDP national secretariat.
Perhaps buoyed by the fact that Akwa Ibom State has been, and is likely to remain, a stronghold of the ruling PDP, the struggle for the party’s ticket at all levels promises to be full of fireworks. Akpabio aligned himself with the argument of aspirants from the Eket senatorial district, saying that in the interest of justice and fairness the senatorial district should produce the next governor of the state. For Akpabio and those in this school of thought, Eket remains the only part of the state which is yet to produce a governor since it was created and as such, it was only fair to allow the senatorial district break the jinx in 2015. To give voice to his campaign, the governor led a tour to the various federal constituencies, arguing in favour of the zoning arrangement, which he pointed out, was part of the policies the PDP deliberately inserted into its constitution to give all members a sense of belonging.
Before this time, a former Secretary to the State Government, Umana Okon Umana, was widely rumoured to be the governor-in-waiting. But this was not to be. Akpabio, who obviously had other plans, was said to have nominated the former SSG for a position on the board of the Niger Delta Development Commission. The former SSG saw through this and suspected that the appointment was aimed at ruling him out of contention in the run-up to the 2015 governorship race. He resigned from Akpabio’s cabinet and has largely kept a low profile until his name surfaced alongside names of other party bigwigs opposed to Akpabio’s calculations.
Apparently to curry public approval of his new found sense of justice, the governor embarked on a statewide tour which he christened “meet the people tour” to seek for and canvass support for a zoning arrangement which opponents argue was obviously tailor-made to suit Akpabio’s preferred zoning arrangement. At the end of the tour, a meeting of party leaders held in Uyo, the state capital, agreed to zone the governorship position to Eket senatorial district. The state PDP Chairman, Obong Ekpo, who read the communiqué at the end of the meeting, announced that it was agreed that the position of governor should be ceded to Eket senatorial district. The communiqué, however, noted that the position was “without prejudice to the right of any other person from other senatorial districts to contest for the governorship seat in 2015.”
Indigenes of the state, who belong to the Oron ethnic nationality – the third largest ethnic group in the state, while expressing support for the decision of the outgoing governor and the state chapter of the PDP on the issue, argued that it would have been better if those at the meeting were more specific by proclaiming that their ethnic nationality was the best suited this time around. To drive home this argument, the Chairman of Oron Think Tank, Mr. Okon Osung, said, “It is our considered opinion that this will lower tension and acrimony in the polity and minimise wasteful spending of scarce resources. Ordinarily and without any persuasion, after the largest ethnic group in the state, the Ibibio, had taken their turn of eight years, and the second largest, the Annang are about finishing their eight years in office, the governorship seat should move to the third largest ethnic group being the Oron nation.
“The governor needs to put the stake of Oron in 2015 beyond speculation, suspense and conjecture. It was done before by his predecessor and it should be done again. It will be a stroke of geopolitical brilliance that will consolidate his status as a statesman who looks beyond the narrow gauge of political gamesmanship.”
Osung further argued that the Eket senatorial district, Ikot Abasi Federal Constituency has produced three deputy governors in quick succession and a senator while Eket Federal Constituency produced a Secretary to the Government of the Federation, two ministers, two senators, six Niger Delta Development Commission board members and a serving Secretary to the State Government.
He, however, expressed regret that the only appointment that came to Oron Federal Constituency was the ministerial appointment of Professor Ita Ewa, whose tenure lasted barely two years. According to him, this was not good enough for an area which has eight oil companies operating in its territorial waters – making it the largest oil-producing community not only in the Niger Delta but Nigeria as a whole.
This was the state of affairs when the state party chairman, Ekpo led a delegation of the party to meet with the National Chairman of the PDP, Alhaji Adamu Mu’azu. He told his host that the delegation he led was in Abuja to acquaint the national secretariat with its decision over the 2015 governorship race. Ekpo subsequently presented a copy of the communiqué of the meeting to the National Working Committee. Mua’zu promised that the NWC “will look at the communiqué carefully and, in accordance with our party guidelines, we shall give you the support it deserves.”
He was, however, silent about the petition filed by some of the party’s stalwarts who felt they were not carried along in the decision-making process. The party elders opposed to this decision had petitioned the PDP headquarters and addressed the media to register their displeasure. In one of several media briefings, a former member of the House of Representatives, Bernard Udoh, said he and other stakeholders of the party have rejected the arrangement in its totality. The stakeholders also accused the governor of running the state chapter of the party like a personal estate.
They cautioned the PDP against treating their complaints with levity because such an action has the potential of hurting the party’s chances in 2015. The petition partly read, “The governor personalised the party by withdrawing one of his former commissioners and friend, Mr. Paul Ekpo, from the state executive council and made him the state PDP chairman. Similarly, he handpicked his younger brother, Barr Akpabio, as the state secretary and also made his Special Assistant on Youth Mobilisation, Mr. Emmanuel Ekpenyong, the state youth leader. The rest of the so-called party officers are either his cronies or relatives.
“The handpicked party chairman features merely as a figurehead while the party is being run by the governor’s brothers. Crucial party matters are being handled by Emem Akpabio, Ibanga Akpabio, Nsetip Akpabio or Prince Akpabio and whenever party meetings are desirable, they are held in the private residences of the said brothers of Governor Akpabio.”
Reacting to these allegations, the state Commissioner for Information, Mr. Aniekan Umana, dismissed these allegations stressing that those behind them were individuals who were “seeking political relevance.”
Although, the party is yet to meet to discuss the issue, pundits argue that the odds favour the governor if the way the PDP is structured is anything to go by.
The governor’s position as chairman of the PDP Governors’ Forum and his closeness to President Goodluck Jonathan and the national chairman of the party is likely to come in handy at this point. It is very unlikely that Mu’azu or the NWC will act contrary to the wishes of Akpabio and the leadership of the party in the state. Observers of the politics of the state recall that the decision of President Jonathan to sack his erstwhile Political Adviser, Alhaji Ahmed Gulak, was a product of a strong argument put forward by Akpabio that Gulak was hobnobbing with his political “enemies.”
The Mu’azu-led NWC of the PDP is yet to show any sign that the petition of the aggrieved party members is being treated. However, unless something drastic happens, head or tail, Akpabio holds all the aces.