Internal Crisis Threatens A’Ibom APC Over Akpabio
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Many top political leaders in the Akwa Ibom State chapter of the APC are not happy with the appointment of Senator Godswill Akpabio as leader of the party in the state. To show their displeasure, they have moved out of the minister’s camp and have aligned with a different camp within the party.
Among those who are believed to have been uncomfortable with the christening of Akpabio as leader of the party in the state are former gubernatorial aspirants and candidates of the party, as well as prominent chieftains of the opposition party in the state.
But the acting national secretary of the party, Senator John Udoedehe told TNN in a telephone interview on Monday that there was no cause for alarm in the party. He said he would not comment on the issue of Akpabio’s leadership of the party, but was quick to add that the appointment was not his headache.
Udoedehe said as national secretary of the party and someone with an ambition to govern the state, he was not and could not be bothered about such a development. He insisted that the party could not have split as a result of Akpabio’s ambition to become leader of the party.
He said people had the right to belong to groups within the party but noted that if his loyalists decided to raise his hand and announce him leader of the party, it did not mean the party was divided. He said there were no factions in the state chapter.
“Anybody can wish to be this or that; that does not mean that the party is divided. Udoedehe said there were deliberate efforts to make sure that the APC emerged winner to take over from the PDP in the state, in 2023.
This is coming just as Mr Solomon Johnny has questioned the rationale behind the appointment of Akpabio as leader of the APC.
In his facebook post, he said “Group Captain Sam Ewang does not have the powers to make His Excellency, Chief Godswill Akpabio a steward after the food he disparaged has been cooked by other chefs. If Chief Akpabio has the good fortune of being accommodated, he ought to keep quiet, sit down and wait to be served his appropriate portion of the meal.
“He should not insult those who were in the farm and market sourcing for the items to be cooked, worse still, under an atmosphere were he were(sic) a threat and big hindrance in gathering the firewood to cook the meal. It is not only greed and desperation, it is despicable in the sight of both God and man for one to reap where he did not sow.
“Remember this is the party Chief Akpabio hunted Senator John Udoedehe to jail in 2011 while he reigned as Governor. Remember this is the party he fought Obong Umana Okon Umana in 2015 and berated President Buhari as suffering from ”Amnesia” for daring to contest the 2015 Election. Remember this is the party while commissioning Wike’s project in Port Harcourt, Akpabio called on the President to come to PH and learn governance. Wike recently reminded him of this. Unknown to him, his greed for power and fear of EFCC will bring him to hide in the party.
“True to type, when he dramatized his entry into APC, Adam’s Oshiomole before the roving Camera lenses shocked the world that Akpabio’s numerous sins including the abduction of Mrs Comfort Ewang, keeping her for 38 days until the husband drops his 2011 governorship ambition against him, have been forgiven with his running to seek shelter in APC. If God in whose mercy he is a Minister today, reaping from where he did not sow, had blessed his sword then that he caught Samuel Ewang, destroyed Udoedehe, Umana and jail (sic)Obong Nsima Ekere, who would have build APC for him to make Ewang a houseboy to make him King?
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“Tell Chief Akpabio to enjoy the bounties of his fortune with the fear of God. He should not bring his divide and rule and attempt to tear APC apart. He will be resisted like Covid-19 pandemic.
“You guys made me go through APC Constitution last night like I was writing my final year exams on it and couldn’t see where a Party Leader is mentioned in the entire paper and where it is the duty of a BoT member to crown him in the absence of party chairman and party executives. Akpabio is in APC practicing PDP Constitution. It shall come to naught.
“I want to know what Chief Akpabio really want. Is he coming from Ikot Ekpene Senatorial District to anoint a governor for Uyo Senatorial District in 2023 so that he can go back home and brag that Ibibio is a weak majority he has put in his pocket? I trust that God shall not allow him to humiliate this fourth largest ethnic group in Nigeria again.”
