Again, Akpabio, Udoedehe draw battle line in APC

Ahead of the 2023 crucial general election, the factional fights for the soul of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Akwa Ibom State have again been rekindled by old foes and longtime political gladiators.  The Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Chief GodswillAkpabio and the current National Care-taker Chairman of the APC, Senator John Udoedehe, are again locked in the fierce contest for supremacy over the party.At stake is the party’s leadership slot and the turf for the battle is Akwa Ibom, where the two camps have their loyalists split into two camps.

Akpabio and Udoedehe, have had running battles forl control of the oil rich state under the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), following the expiration of the tenure of Obong Victor Attah, the inaugural governor of the state at the return of democracy in 1999.The duo had formed an alliance in the runup to the 2007 elections, when Akpabio, fought tight battle to succeed ObongAttah, who had already anointed his son-in-law, DrUdomEkarika, as his successor.But Akpabio, a suave and uncanny politician, who had served for six years in Attah’s cabinet in Ministries of Lands, Petroleum as well as Chieftaincy and Local Government Affairs, was able to cash-in on ObongAttah’s campaign to succeed then President Olusegun Obasanjo, to overturn the apple cart in his favour.  He got the PDP nomination ticket, against all odds after series of primaries conducted on about three occasions by one senior official of the Department of State Services (DSS), AlhajiTafida, at the state House of Assembly ground and the grand finale at Ibom Hall.

At the declaration of Akpabio as the ticket bearer after all the intrigues at the South-South zonal rally in Port Harcourt stadium, Elekahia, where former President Obasanjo handed over the flag to Akpabio, the realignment of forces towards the election proper was galvanized with key campaign positions allotted to trusted allies.Towards effective campaigns, the energetic Udoedehe, a strong crowd puller with compelling rhetorical power, was quick to be named into the campaign team as the chief spokesman.He acquitted himself so well in the campaign movements and eventually delivered Akpabio to the electorates, who voted for him massively across the 31 Local Government Areas, against the then major opposition Action Congress (AC) candidate led by Mr. James Iniama.

To reward his chief campaign leader, Akpabio was quick to recommend him to then President, AlhajiUmaru Musa Yar’Adua (late), who named Senator Udoedehe, as the Minister of State for the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), to occupy Akwa Ibom slot. It was not too long before the two friends became political foes, following the sacking of Udoedehe and the then FCT Minister, AlhajiModibbo Umar, from the federal cabinet by President Yar’Adua.

However, irreconcilable differences between them forced Senator Udoedehe, to jump ship-from the PDP to the newly galvanized AC as Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu, had transformed the party into Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) in the run-up to the 2011 general elections.“PDP is not our El-Dolarado,”Udoedehe, had told his supporters when he ditched the party and declared to run for governorship on the ticket of ACN in 2011The contest was extremely fierce leading to series of altercations laced in acerbic rhetoric from the two camps.

The matter further widened the gulf of enmity among the two hitherto friends as Akpabio was quick to order the arrest of the former Minister, who was later charged to court for arson. But Tinubu was quick to dispatch no fewer than 50 lawyers led by the current Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo (SAN), who was then the Attorney General of Lagos state – to defend his friend and political ally. With the passage of time, in 2018, when governor Udom Emmanuel turned the heat against his godfather in a  political war, Akpabio was quick to flee for cover in the ruling APC at the centre. He was received into the party at his IkotEkpene stadium on August 8, 2018, by virtually all the big wigs and chieftains of the APC including AsiwajuTinubu; former National Chair of APC, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole; several APC Senators, House of Representatives members; some APC governors and many other sympathizers of the APC in Akwa Ibom. Some commissioners and aides of Governor Emmanuel, also left the PDP and the state cabinet to pitch tent with Akpabio in APC.At the forum, Akpabio, who was roundly cheered by the chieftains of the party and declared leader of the APC in Akwa Ibom, had branded himself as a “nationalist” on a mission to rescue Akwa Ibom from the stranglehold of his estranged godson with a view to linking with the central government for genuine dividends of democracy to flow into the state. He, therefore, urged the people to be prepared for the general elections in 2019, where he assured that “Akwa Ibom and the entire South-South will fall to the APC.”

Although he was roundly received by the home APC led by Udoedehe and other leaders of the party in the state, it is glaring, according Comrade Stephen Effiong, an activist, that the “unexpected migration of the old war horse, Akpabio, did not go down well with those who claimed to be the face of the APC in the state.  They believed that Akpabio has come to shove aside and intimidate them again after labouring to build and entrench the structures of the party across the 31 Local Government Areas and the then 329 political wards”, he added.

Akpabio was quick to hold series of APC meetings with a view to gain an advantage in the opposition APC with the then Managing Director (MD) of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), ObongNsima Udo Ekere, as the governorship candidate. It was, however, gathered, internal sabotage by the aggrieved enemies of Akpabio combined with other extraneous forces rocked the boat as the APC succumbed to the crushing blows of governor Emmanuel’s PDP, leaving Akpabio gasping for breath in the process of trying to salvage his senatorial second term mandate already seized by a former deputy governor, Obong Chris Ekpenyong, when the chips were finally down.“They thought that with Akpabio failing to deliver on his first assignment; that he would be blacklisted in the good books of President Muhammadu Buhari, but alas, as soon as they dropped the Champagne glasses in the Governor’s Lodge, the great leader has bounced back and became even more powerful.His purported failure in the election was even rewarded with key ministerial portfolio with extended assignment to oversee the reforms at the NDDC,”he added

With another election lurking, the men have again regrouped with personal interests at the centre of the renewed feud between Akpabio’s camp and that of Udoedehe.To cement his leadership position in the state APC, Akpabio, it was learnt, was quick to settle their age-old political rift with a former military governor of Ogun and Rivers states, Group Capt. Sam Ewang (retd). At the end of the dialogue with Ewang, Akpabio was said to have lobbied Ewang, as the Board of Trustee (BoT) member of the APC at the centre, to hurriedly convene a meeting of his faction in Uyo, where he (Akpabio) was affirmed as the leader of the party in Akwa Ibom.

Ewang, who presided over the meeting, declared Akpabio as the authentic leader of the party in the state, citing precedence, including the earlier declaration of the former Senate Minority Leader by leaders, elders and stakeholders of the APC, when he defected to the APC at the Ikot Ekpene Stadium in 2018.  He argued: “In various states not under APC including Rivers, Delta, Anambra and others, a federal minister is the APC leader”, he explained, wondering why Akwa Ibom should be an exception.Why did they not query that decision in 2018 when Akpabio was declared the leader of the party?”

He accused Udoedehe of plotting to hijack the party machinery as the national caretaker secretary, to further his quest to become governor in 2023. In the meeting in which some key stakeholders, including Senator ItaEnang, Senior Special Assistant (SSA) to President Buhari on Niger Delta Affairs; Udoedehe and the state APC leadership led by Dr. ItaUdosen did not attend, Ewang explained that he made frantic efforts to bring them to the forum with a view to resolving all contending issues to no avail.“I had done that for six months even with Uyo senatorial district and I discovered that they were not ready. I also discovered that our people were interested in killing their brothers and ensuring that they stay in appointments or get new appointments and not caring about winning elections. I also discovered that they had gone into arrangement with their master in Rivers state who is interested in becoming President in 2023, and even when he doesn’t become, he would still remain in government.

“Udoedehe is the one causing problems in the party, but that is not all. When Akpabio was inducted into the party at IkotEkpene stadium, His Excellency Tinubu went to the podium and announced Akpabio as the leader in the state. His Excellency Adams Oshiomhole also went to the podium and announced the same Akpabio as the leader of the party.

“I did not make Akpabio as the leader; rather, his position is statutory. I did not make Akpabio the minister; party leadership is not obtainable in the constitution but conventional. Buhari is the leader of the party at the national level and state governors are the leaders of the party in the state. And in states where the party does not have a governor, it is an ex-governor or somebody who has the highest political appointment that should be the leader of the party,” Ewangstated.

But the Udoedehe faction led by the state APC chairman, Dr. ItaUdosen, had to hurriedly convened a counter stakeholders’ meeting where Ewang’s resolution to install Akpabio was nullified. According to Udosen, it is out of order to convene a stakeholders’ meeting not sanctioned by the leadership of the party in the state and thereby declared party leadership position in the state vacant “until in the next three months when the interim state party leadership would dissolved.” He urged stakeholders and party supporters to discountenance the decision taken by Ewang on behalf of Akpabio’s faction.

So, as the party heads towards the next congress in which the interim arrangement would give way to the elected officials, only time will tell who eventually emerges the authentic state leader of the party. The people are watching.

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