One of the major news items that dominated the headlines this few days has been much hype defection of Godswill Akpabio, the immediate past Senate Minority leader from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressives Congress. The defection came to its climax on Wednesday when the “uncommon transformer” formally defected bringing to reality months of speculations that Akpabio and Governor Udom Emmanuel, his godson may have been managing their relationship in the last three years.
In the beginning. The seemingly power tussle now rocking Akwa Ibom State had its roots in 2014 during the PDP primaries when Akpabio was able to outplay other 22 aspirants on the platform of the PDP to have Udom nominated as the flag bearer of the party. The other aspirants which later became known as G22 went to Abuja spending 40 days in the capital city in an attempt to present their grievances to the then President, Goodluck Jonathan but were unable to have any audience with him. When they returned to Akwa Ibom State, they left the PDP en masse. Among them were the former secretary to the state government, Umana Okon Umana, and the current managing director of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), Nsima Ekere. Ekere who had earlier served as Akpabio’s deputy but was forced to resign when he got wink that he was to be impeached in 2012 while the former secretary to the state government was forced out of office by Akpabio in a manner that had never been heard off. His office was locked and he was chased out with the backing of security forces. That was when Udom Emmanuel, a former banker was brought in as the new Secretary to the state government who eventually became the governor in May 2015 with the support of Godswill Akpabio.
How things went sour: By the time Akpabio ended his tenure as governor in 2015, some of his legacy projects including the Ibom entertainment centre in Uyo, the Four Point by Sheraton hotel in Ikot Ekpene, the Ibom multi speciality hospital in Uyo were not completed as well as the construction of a dual carriage way from Uyo, the state capital to Ikot Ekpene, the headquarters of his senatorial district were not completed. As Udom assumed office, he shifted his attention to new projects to fulfil his campaign promise of industrialisation and consolidation on infrastructure. The cost of the projects were never made known except that of the Ibom Tropicana entertainment centre which gulped over N33 billion when the contract was awarded to Silverbird Company, owned by Ben Bruce.
Though there were rumours that the relationship between Akpabio and Udom had soured, both parties had denied it vehemently through their media aides. But at a special meeting of the five local government areas of the state in Ikot Ekpene senatorial district, Akpabio was the first to let the cat out of the bag when he said that “all was not well in Ikot Ekpene senatorial district.’’ However, as the report began to make the rounds, Akpabio and leaders from the senatorial district came to the government house in Uyo to pledge their solidarity to Udom Emmanuel as the governor, recanting the earlier statement he had made. Since then, things have moved in quick succession. Another rally to endorse Akpabio for second term as a senator and Udom Emmanuel as governor was held last month in Ikot Ekpene township stadium where Akpabio dropped the bombshell. “Don’t worry about election, election is all about voting. Today, your notice that I had did not shout too much about party because you have endorsed me as an unopposed candidate. All this unopposed candidate cuts across all the political parties,’’ he said.
Everybody was jolted and the few days later, Akpabio met with the vice president Yemi Osinbajo at Aso Rock in Abuja and the rest is history.
The implications of his defection.
One of the things Akpabio said when he mounted the soapbox to make his speech on the day of his defection was that he was leaving his former party because he is a nationalist and has the interest of the nation at heart.
“I have been accused of being a conspirator, yes I am a conspirator of national development, I am a conspirator of development and I am a conspirator of togetherness,’’ he said.
But many observers think otherwise. They said it is for his personal interest in anattempt to remain in control of power in Akwa Ibom State perpetually. Certainly, Akpabio’s defection has divided the polity down the line with opinions sharply divided on whether it is in the best of the interest of the nation for the former Senate Minority leader to jump ship and in a way that may truncate the zoning arrangement in the state in which he had stood for over the years.
Emmanuel Ibok Essien, one-time senator who represented the senatorial district and who served as chief whip during Obasanjo’s presidency told a crowd that gathered same day of Akpabio’s defection that the action of the former senate minority leader does not enjoy the support of stakeholders in the district.
“This is the moment of our liberation, out of the 54 appointments from Governor Udom Emmanuel administration for the senatorial district, Ikot Ekpene local government has only five while Essien Udim local government area where Akpabio hails from has 35.
“We should thank God that Jonah has been removed from our boat. Our children will now have contracts. Akpabio takes everything to Essien Udim.”
“For choosing to resign from the exalted office of Senate Minority leadership to become an ordinary senator, this is a shameful thing to the senatorial district and we are going to initiate moves to withdraw the endorsement that the senatorial district gave him,’’ he said.
Similarly, both the former deputy governor, Chris Ekpenyong and the current number two citizen of the state, Moses Ekpo who are from the same senatorial district have dissociated themselves from Akpabio’s action and have spoken openly against the decision.
According Ekpenyong, the former senate minority leader is acting alone without the cohort of the senatorial district.
“Supposing he goes into a ship and he is the captain and he has not many passengers, what happens?
“The party (PDP) is very strong, waxing stronger; it will be stronger than what it was with his (Akpabio) presence.
“What this implies is, governor Udom Emmanuel will move on to accomplish his stay till 2013 that we shall handover to Uyo Senatorial district,’’ Ekpenyong said.
According to the subsisting zoning arrangement for the office of the governor, rotation has beeen adopted among the three senatorial districts. For instance, Akpabio who is from Ikot Ekpene Senatorial district had completed his eight-year tenure and the governorship has moved to Eket senatorial district being represented by Udom Emmanuel and is expected to remain there till 2013 when it would move back to Uyo senatorial district. By defecting, many fear that Akpabio might have thrown a spanner into the works with the sole aim of distorting the agreed rotational principle.
For Ibok Essien, if Akpabio goes ahead to truncate the zoning arrangment, it would take the people of Ikot Ekpene Senatorial district about 23 years before the governorship would come to the area.
Next year’s general elections. It would be pretty difficult to predict the future as to who would win next election between the two political parties in Akwa Ibom State. It still remains to be seen how things would pan out in the coming months but strong indications are that many are dissatisfied with the defection which observers seen as a deliberate attempt to to change the existing zoning arrangement for his personal ambition
Former member of the House of Representatives and minister of lands and housing, Nduese Essien said since the announcement of Akpabio’s defection, there has been celebration throughout Eket senatorial district.
“A number of youths have come to me to say that, if they did not support you before, now they are going to support you fully,’’ he said.
The governor who has maintained absolute silence since the news of the defection broke was however philosophical over the development when he received people from his senatorial district.
“I can only say what I keep telling the youths, no shaking. There is nothing here that happens that will ever be new. Everything happening in the world today had already happened in the past,’’ he said.