The alleged political sins of the former Governor Godswill Akpabio of Akwa Ibom State, is currently haunting his new party, the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the big oil state.
Besides his alleged unfulfilled promises to the people of Esit Eket Local Government Area of the state, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) had said that the alleged fraud case involving the ex-governor was not yet over despite his defection from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the ruling APC.
As at last September, EFCC Acting Chair, Ibrahim Magu, had said that Akpabio, who left office as governor in 2015, had been grilled on several occasions by the anti-graft agency over allegations of fraud.
Though Akpabio has been claiming that he is a man of peace that has no case to answer with the EFCC, he has also been insisting that after him could not prove their case before the anti-graft agency.
However, the political leader of Esit Eket, Benji Udobia, says the former governor promised at least 20-kilometer of roads in all parts of the state, yet he did no single road in Esit Eket in eight years. At the moment, he is thanking Governor Udom Emmanuel for remembering the largely neglected area.
Before now, Leo Ekpenyong, a lawyer and activist, had petitioned EFCC accusing Akpabio of ‘’devising a means of enriching himself at the expense of the state’’ while in office. But, when Akpabio joined President Muhammadu Buhari’s APC last August, he boasted that the EFCC investigated and found nothing on him.
While dismissing reports that he defected to the APC because of the fear of being witch-hunted by the anti-graft body, he added, ‘’some people are saying I moved to APC because a gun was pointed on my head. A young man wrote a petition against me and the petition was filled with lies… I have never been charged to court… The EFCC did not find anything on me.’’
In a seeming reaction, Magu told editors in Lagos, the commercial capital of Nigeria that the former governor was still being investigated over the accusations against him.
In the mean time, Dr. Ini Adiakpan who spoke for the women said Esit Eket women were not ready to be tricked into slavery through the ‘’broom party’’ and assured PDP of 100 percent support.
Two months earlier, APC’s fortunes in the local government area nosedived when the leader of the party, Senator Etang Umoyo led thousands of his supporters to the PDP. The party has been further depleted with the defection of a former federal lawmaker Bassey Dan Abia, Emem Edoho popularly known as Al Mustapha, to the PDP.
At an electioneering campaign rally in Uquo, the headquarters of Esit Eket, Abia, the younger brother of a former Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) Managing Director, Bassey Dan Abia said there was no future for APC in Akwa Ibom.
The defector who claimed to have led more than 6,000 others back to the PDP said he was not too big to apologise for making such a mistake of joining APC, adding that APC is fast losing in several parts of the country like Zamfara, Rivers, Imo and Abia where they have no candidates for the governorship elections.
According to him, ‘’in view of the fact that the APC is only pretending and is really not visible in most parts of the country, I believe I am not too big to say I am sorry, I made a mistake, I am coming back home to work for the overall success of our great party, the PDP in all the elections.’’
While addressing the rally, Governor Udom thanked Esit Eket for the support and promised to do more in the area: ‘’In three years, I have done 19.75km in Esit Eket, those who promised 20 kilometres in eight years did none.
‘’We have started making some move with the support of the PDP and the incoming President Atiku Abubakar, to ensure that Esit Eket, Mbo and Ibeno become the new Nigeria through the actualisation of Ibom deep sea port project. All I need is the cooperation of all and sundry to actualise the vision.’’
Udom warned them against allowing opposition elements to trick them into parting with their PVCs, saying that their voter’s cards remain their only power to support PDP candidates in the forthcoming elections, and accordingly announced his intention to construct the Stadium road as a way of appreciating the supporters in the area and also promised them that modalities were at advanced stage for the reactivation of the Akwa Palms Limited.
Speaking earlier, Umoyo lamented that the former NDDC Managing Director and APC governorship candidate, Nsima Ekere, after being previously sacked from office as deputy governor by his boss, Akpabio could also be sacked by the President in NDDC, and attributes it to the lack of training in corporate management setting.
