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| Sen. Akpabio (R) |
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| Nsima Ekere |
I will attempts a prognosis of the factors that led to the doom of the APC in Akwa Ibom State in the last general elections; sending its leading lights, most noticeably Senator Godswill Akpabio and Nsima Ekere, into the political wilderness
A number of factors could be attributed to the dismal outing of former Akwa Ibom State Governor and former Senate Minority Leader, Senator Godswill Akpabio and other APC Candidates in the just concluded elections. Such factors would range from the inexcusable marginalisation of the state by President Muhammadu Buhari in the spread of appointments and developmental projects, his seeming non-challance and dead silence to the plight of other Nigerians occasioned by the mindless carnage inflicted by his kinsmen on other Nigerians daily in the name of farmers/herdsmen clash; to other fundamental issues such as poor/defective political structure by the APC in the South-south, South East, in-fighting and unpardonable arrogance, amongst a host of others.
Other fundamental issues that led to the woeful election outcome of the All Progressives Congress in the South-south and South-East is poor political structure, in-fighting, pride and arrogance that provoked the electorates to draw a battle line against the candidates.
Also most pronounced as evident during the elections in the state was the clear lack of coherence within the APC fold that resulted in the duplicity of loyalty by the old APC stalwarts who are loyalists of Udoedeghe of the ACN generation and the gross hatred of the New APC of Umana Okon Umana's generation against those who were their sworn enemies but are now within the spectrum of party.
Let’s quickly attempt an elaboration of some of these factors as they contributed to ruining the chances of the APC as a party and its candidates in the just concluded elections in the state
MARGINALIZATION BY PRESIDENT BUHARI
President Buhari's glaring uncaring attitude towards the States in the South-South and South East, no doubt, contributed greatly to the abysmal performance of the APC in these two regions. In the last four years, for instance, President Buhari has not commissioned a single project in the two regions since the inception of his government, apart from the Port Harcourt International Airport Remodelling project which was awarded by former President Goodluck Jonathan.
During the start of his first term, President Buhari hurriedly initiated the Clean-Up Ogoni Project to score a cheap political point against his predecessor but till date nothing has been done. Ogoni land has remained in ruins and uncultivable. The people are dying on a daily basis from the poisonous water and air pollution.
Calabar - Itu Dualization.
This doomed project has been in all the budgets of the present administration. President Buhari announced to the world three years ago that he had awarded the contract for the dualisation of the road but it was not until close to the election that Julius Berger was seen doing site clearing on a section of the road around Ibiono Local Government Area.
Immediately Buhari was fraudulently re-elected, the site was abandoned.
The people of these two States never voted for him because they knew clearly that it was a ploy to deceive the people of Akwa Ibom and Cross River States to vote for his second term bid. Kudos to the people who are clearly more enlightened than their oppressors.
President Buhari's nonchalant attitude can also be seen in the Second Niger bridge project, which progress has been marred by low funding from his administration and till date; the project has not gone up to 30 percent.
Again, we can take up the Ibaka Deep Sea port project in Akwa Ibom State which has in place a tripartite funding arrangement between the Federal Government, Akwa Ibom State Government and the investors.
That project has equally suffered from the nepotistic disposition of the Buhari administration. For two years now, the Federal Government has budgeted only N1billion each year for the project but not even a Kobo has been released so far. Yet the same government expected to hoodwink the people of the State into voting for it.
POOR POLITICAL STRUCTURE.
In Akwa Ibom State, APC does not have any political structure across the State. The little structure that was built By Senator John J. Udoedeghe has been smashed outrightly due to what they termed interlopers – later day converts - who came in to hijack the Party from the original stakeholders. Perhaps, whatever fragile structure the party had managed to maintain was shattered by the late entrance of Senator Godswill Akpabio who imposed himself on everyone as the leader of the party, not only in Akwa Ibom State but the whole of South-south.
Most of the key members of these divisive structures have long defected to PDP to join forces with Governor Udom Emmanuel to battle the intruders from their former political Party, while the mainstream who still managed to remain in APC stayed back to sabotage the Party’s success in order to humiliate both Akpabio and Nsima Ekere.
Thus, the lack lacked neither a formidable structure or platform to run its campaigns. Plaqued by these glaring inefficiencies, the Candidates of APC could only rely on the Federal might to win the elections. Unfortunately, at the polling booths, the people’s might prevailed.
POLITICAL ARROGANCE AND GOD FACTOR.
Senator Godswill Akpabio failed the last election due to his belief that the entire Akwa Ibom State was in his political confinement
He overrated his political acceptance and went further to spoil his case with boastful utterances which enraged both the political gladiators and the electorates in the State.
When Akpabio defected to the All Progressives Congress, APC ,He did not consult the very fabrics of his political structures. He did not also carry them along.
After his defection, he came back to use force and money to woo his people to follow him to his new Party. He ended up wasting billions of naira without any positive results.
No bigwigs agreed to follow him, few collected over a hundred million naira to defect but never showed up and even the few who defected before the elections turned against him and were working for the PDP by exposing all his strategies to the opponents.
The refusal of Akpabio’s caucus to join him in his new party may have marked the beginning of digging his political grave, but what perhaps sealed that grave was the moment he started carrying himself and sounding like a god.
A typical example was when he mocked the campaign slogan of his Successor, Governor Udom Emmanuel ‘’Only God‘’. He questioned where God was when he single-handedly made Udom the Governor of the State in 2015.
He went further to say that Governor Udom is just his gateman and he can hire and fire his gate man without any resistance from any quarter.
For Akwa Ibom people who are known for their religious disposition, Akpabio was simply stretching his luck too far. Where an Akwaibomite is involved, you can do anything and get away with it but blaspheming will put you in a wilderness of sort. And that was Akpabio’s doom.
Akpabio, was also reported saying that he will make a mockery of the largest ethnic group in the state: the Ibibios who controlled 21 of the 31 Local Government Areas of the State. He was quoted as saying that he will remove Governor Udom Emmanuel from office to show the Ibibios that he is the political god-father of the state.
This was one of the biggest political provocation, which made both Ibibios in PDP and APC to form alliance to ensure that Akpabio does not win election and Nsima Ekere whom they saw as another Akpabio’s slave boy does not win too. It was a grande machination.
This is why all the funds that was released by Nsima Ekere for votes buying and other mobilization were embezzled by the APC leaders across the State to ensure they frustrate Nsima as a pay back to Akpabio’s political haughtiness and conceit.
Sen. Akpabio also failed because politicians whom he frustrated out of PDP, who regrouped in APC worked against his success; they backstabbed and blackmailed him before President Buhari and swayed the Presidency to withdraw the planned federal might.
This tandem also made the President to understand that Governor Udom Emmanuel is the best for the State. That if Nsima Ekere was elected, Akpabio would continue with mindless looting of the treasury and Nsima, given his violent disposition, would in revenge, bring back the dark days of killings, kidnappings, cultism and Armed Robbery, to the State.
There was also influx of documents from the State to the President which detailed how much Akpabio had stolen from the State, with strong documented evidence . The amount of money involved was over a trillion Naira.
This , no doubt, would have provoked the President to withdraw the much-touted federal might from rigging elections in the state, particularly so given his avouched war against corruption.
Lastly, the God factor, Akpabio’s utterances provoked God and the people, which translated to why almost all the churches in Akwa Ibom State prayed for the failure of Sen. Godswill Akpabio and Nisma Ekere.
They prayed to God to reveal himself to Akpabio by making him fail so that he will realize that he is not God but man.
And God, who is easily provoked when someone He raises from the dust, tries to placed himself in the position of God ,like Nebuchadnezzar, arrogate God's power to himself .
God therefore decided to humble Senator Akpabio by turning the hearts of the masses against him thereby sending him into the political wilderness, again, like Nebuchadnezzar.
To be Continued
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