POLITICS
Sanctity of Truth
Tuesday, March 11, 2014
In a rare feat, the state executive council in Akwa Ibom has presented a list of governorship aspirants from which Governor Godswill Akpabio would pick his successor. Tony Anichebe writes on the development and the controversy trailing the action.
A’Ibom: Choice of Akpabio’s successor stokes fire
I
n a bid to ease the political tension in Akwa Ibom State over who succeeds Governor Godswill Akpabio in the February 28, 2015 governorship election, 20 commissioners and four special advisers in their collective wisdom recently presented a list of three people from which the governor can make a choice of his successor. In the list of preferred choice of the cabinet members were, the new Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Mr. Udom Gabriel Emmanuel; the Commissioner for Rural Development, Mr. Effiong Abia and the Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Mr. Ekpenyong Netkim. Incidentally, the three aspirants are all from Eket Senatorial District favoured by Akpabio to produce his successor. But Mr. Bassey Albert Akpan, a trusted ally of the governor and the longest serving Commissioner for Finance declined to endorse the document. Akpan, who is from Uyo Senatorial District, is running for the governorship. Akpan’s plan to succeed Governor Akpabio, according to our source, dates back to 2007 when he was appointed commissioner; an ambition that puts him in the black book of the former SSG, Umana Okon Umana, who tried unsuccessfully to kick him out of the cabinet. Umana wants to be the governor too. Akpabio’s cabinet led by their Dean and Commissioner for Works, Mr. Don Etim, justified their action. He said their action was to give the governor direction on who should succeed him. Etim who tried to debunk the general belief in the state that the governor had chosen his new SSG as his successor noted that Akpabio has not imposed anybody on the state executive council. According to him; “23 out of 24 members of the exco unanimously agreed that we should approach the governor to consider his successor from the state exco members. “The governor has been misunderstood and misrepresented. We in the exco believed we have a stake on what is happening in Akwa Ibom State. So, we assembled all commissioners and discussed extensively. Out of 24 of us, 23 unanimously agreed that we should approach the governor to consider his successor from members of the council. “We gave the governor three names. We sat down and deliberated on the three names and the three names are from the Eket Senatorial District. As a people, we thought it is only fair for us to tell the
15
Akpabio
governor that as your disciples, why can’t you consider someone from within your council? We urged him to give us approval for three of our colleagues and he obliged us. “The governor thanked us and re-affirmed that the playing field was open to other aspirants. The governor has not imposed anybody on the council. The three people we have put forward are some of our best. We want to be very clear that we are not coaxed into doing this; we are not doing that to save our jobs.” But mixed reactions have continued to trail the action. Other governorship aspirants believed that the action of the state exco smacks of selfish interests. A chieftain in Senator Helen Esuenne’s camp, Mr. Bassey Uno told New Telegraph that members of the state exco are narrowminded by drawing a line after three of their colleagues were selected and shutting out other political heavyweights in the senatorial district equally gunning for the governorship. Mr. Okon Ebong, who is working for the emergence of Ambassador Assam re-echoed the now well known message of his principal that “not even the president or the Governor of Akwa Ibom State will determine the next governor but God and the people of the state.” Ebong who spoke with New Telegraph in Uyo said that the action of the state exco members will not weaken their resolve to join hands with their chosen aspirant to pursue his gubernatorial ambition to a logical conclusion. In the same vein, echoes from the camp of the Leader of the state House of Assembly, Elder Okpolupm Etteh, a front runner in the guber race described the choice of Akpabio’s successor to three members of the state exco by their colleagues as an effort in futility. “We cannot buy into such tricks,” said Sifon Asuquo. He told New Telegraph that as the commissioners were making choices among themselves, the campaign office of Etteh
Emmanuel
The three people we have put forward are some of our best. We want to be very clear that we are not coaxed into doing this; we are not doing that to save our jobs is ready to kick start the 2015 governorship elections. Mr. Clement Essien from Nsit Ibom Local Government, who is a strong supporter of a former deputy governor of the state, Mr. Nsima Ekere, appealed to the state exco to allow party faithful chose their preferred candidates at the primaries. He maintained that the Akwa Ibom people not the cabinet members will chose who takes over the mantle of leadership from the incumbent governor. “Since when has it become a norm that being a member of the sate executive is an express ticket to the Government House? Because it worked for Akpabio in 2007 does not mean it will work this time around for another exco member,” he observed. However, a lawmaker in the Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly and the member representing Oron/udung Uko State constituency, Chief Jerome Isangedighi, hailed the development. He said it is a step in the right direction. But he noted that Akwa Ibom was created on a tripod of three ethnic groups, the Ibibio, Annang and Oron stressing that it is necessary to allow Oron nation to occupy the Government House since the other two ethnic groups have had their turn. Two of the three aspirants endorsed by the state exco, Abia and Ntekim are
from Oron Nation. Isangedighi said: “Even visitors to Akwa Ibom State know this position, our senior brother have taken their turn and an Annang man in the person of Chief Akpabio is on the saddle now “By 2015, it is expected that the slot goes to Eket Senatorial District, precisely to Oron nation with five local government areas. So, I do not see anything wrong in the action of the state executive council by adopting the three men. It is for us that will take the final decisions in respect of who takes what and why, but I am convinced that the person will be an Oron man.” Meanwhile, New Telegraph observed that the recent action of the members of the state executive is a complete departure from Governor Akpabio’s initial plan for a successor after Umana’s controversial exit from his cabinet. Late last year, the governor desirous of ensuring that he grooms and hand over the reins of power to a trusted successor adopted his new SSG, Emmanuel, and quietly formed a 31-member steering committee made up of his strong and trusted allies from the 31 local government areas of the state and empowered them to return to their various communities and galvanise support for the SSG’s governorship project in 2015. Emmanuel’s project the New Telegraph gathered was dead on arrival as several stakeholders at various council areas visited refused to endorse it during the various town hall meetings held to market the Udom Emmanuel brand notwithstanding the enormous resource deployed to “wet the ground”. In Uyo council area, for instance, while the stakeholders acknowledged Akpabio’s various achievements since his assumption of duty as governor but refused to endorse Udom Emmanuel as his successor in a meeting that nearly ended in turmoil. Again at the Uyo Senatorial District meeting held recently at Mboho Mkparawa Ibibio hall, Uyo, a serving council chairman of Ibibio Ibom Local Government Area, Mr. Godwin Ekpo, narrowly escaped lynching by the mob when he moved a motion for the people to support the power shift to Eket Senatorial District and endorsement of the SSG as Akpabio’s successor. It took the combined effort of soldiers and mobile police to smuggle him out of the venue of the meeting alive. Several other meetings held across the state with the project in mind suffered similar fate. Top government sources told New Telegraph that the governor in planning his exit is conscious of the fact that if not properly handled, a repeat of 2007 episode may come to fore when former Governor Victor Attah lost control of the party machinery midway and failed to install his choice candidate as governor.