The desire of Governor Godswill Akpabio of Akwa Ibom State to see his successor emerge from Eket Senatorial district of the state has not been in doubt for the past one year or so. He did not only show the keen interest in a zoning arrangement, he went further to make a commitment to the people of the district, as well as advised other stakeholders to go a-shopping for the right candidate to take over from him in 2015.
Akpabio had gone a step further to tell those who cared to listen that his plan was to hand over the mantle of the governance of the state to a candidate from that district, while he will run for a senate seat.
For several months after the pronouncement, Nigerian Tribune observed that the ruling Peoples Democratic Party(PDP) in the state was thrown in a dilemma. The dilemma stemmed from the challenge of balancing the ambitions of several of its members, a development
that appears to threaten the zoning arrangement.
It is apparent that the decision on zoning did not go down well with some stakeholders in the party and not every enthusiastic about Akpabio’s calculations and reasons for the arrangement. Several party members as well as other stakeholders had ideas different from what the governor presented before them.
When a former Secretary to the state Government (SSG), Mr Umana Umana resigned and Mr Udom Emmanuel was appointed and sworn in as his replacement within 48 hours, it was concluded in some quarters within and outside the party system that the governor was planning to anoint the new SSG as his successor, Emmanuel being an indigene of the preferred area.
Their fears, Nigerian Tribune gathered, was reportedly founded on the premise that three members of the executive cabinet of the state, including the new SSG, had indicated interest in the position and had been encouraged by the governor to so aspire. Leaders of the party in the state have made several attempts to get members to be on the same page. But the last meeting to that effect was held on March 21 Tuesday actually ended in a near fiasco as Ekpo, who presided over the meeting, could not get other members of the party leadership to reach a consensus. Most of them accused him of being a ‘yes’ man and a front for Akpabio.
Nigerian Tribune gathered that the party’s legislators at the state and federal levels, chairmen at ward and local government levels as well as other executive council members, who attended the late night meeting, believed that Ekpo lacked the pedigree to preside over such a meeting because of the issue at stake and his perceived personal interest in the issue.
To drive home their point, many queried the state chairman’s decision to allow Emmanuel’s branded campaign buses to be parked in his residence, when he was expected to be neutral, at least until the party decided officially where the position was zoned to. They expressed disappointment that the chairman’s action was obvious, even when the PDP had yet to meet on the matter, let alone talk about reaching a decision.
“The state party chairman ought to have, at least, appeared to be a neutral umpire so as not to hurt the feelings of other party members who were equal stakeholders in the democratic enterprise,” they argued. Most of the party chieftains contended that a situation whereby the party chairman had already taken sides with the governor, to zone the ticket to an individual was a total misnomer which should not be allowed to stand.
Although newsmen, who were at the party secretariat to cover the meeting were not allowed into the secretariat, it was gathered that it took the intervention of the state secretary of the party, Mr Ibanga Akpabio, to restore order when the meeting became rowdy and the angry chapter chairmen threatened a walk out.
This development is causing a disquiet within the rank and file of the party in the state, as more members who are not part of the current administration, have started oiling their campaign machinery ahead of what they expect would be a free, fair and credible party primaries, open to all qualified aspirants from the party platform.
“As it is, our members are divided over whether to stick to zoning or not. Most of the people supporting zoning are appointees of the government, while those calling for an open contest are people who are not in government.
“They are saying everybody should be allowed to take part in the primaries while the party and the governor should provide a level-playing field.
Of course, what do you expect an appointee of government to say? They will support the bidding of the government or they will be shown the way out,” said a party source, who pleaded anonymity.
Ekpo
had said after the meeting that the claims that the party was in
disarray over the issue was a farce, insisting that the allegations that
there were cracks within the party hierarchy existed only in the
imagination of those who did not wish the PDP and the people of the
state well. He had assured the public that the party would soon take a
definite stand on the matter and it would be made public. His promise
came to fulfillment on April 22 in the morning, when the party
hierarchy, after about five hours’ meeting presided by the governor
himself, issued a communiqué, which among other issues addressed, zoned
the governorship to Eket Senatorial district.Meanwhile, certain recent developments within the party showed clearly that the denial of cracks within the party by the executive might not be true after all. The party executives are not speaking in unison and efforts are being channeled in different directions by the party officers. For instance, while some are hell bent on zoning the governorship position to Eket, others believe that even though the party supports a candidate from Eket, there should be a level-playing ground for interested persons from other areas to contest.
The crack also became apparent at the recent PDP elder/stakeholders’ meeting, which ran concurrently with Uyo Senatorial District Leaders’ Forum. While the former was advocating an all-inclusive governorship election in 2015, the latter was, on the other hand, drumming support for Eket District to produce the next governor.
In what could be considered a public outcry, some aggrieved PDP stakeholders in the state decried being cast out of the party they laboured to bring to the state. They threatened that there would be dire consequences if they were not given a chance to partake in the governorship race.
These stakeholders also alleged that no party member from Uyo senatorial district fell within the first 15 major public office holders in the present administration.
The uyo Senatorial District Leaders’ Forum reasoned that for peace, equity and fairness, the distrcit must join forces with the people of the state to zone the position to it, having had their turn in the person of Chief Victor Attah.
Senator Aloysius Etok, a member representing Ikot Ekpene Senatorial district in the National Assembly, said: “things have gone wrong and that is why we are meeting in this summit. It is important because vital decisions are going to be taken. You will choose who will rule Akwa Ibom and who will be lawmakers but never again will elections be conducted outside the designated venues and Abuja will not deny the right of the people of the state as a one-party state.”
He lamented that the PDP in the state was “a sinking ship” in desperate need of rescue. “I am praying to God for us to see the need to unite. Let us tell them No! They are about to scatter us if we don’t unite. We must say No! We must unite! I said one day to my friend, the governor, have you noticed that all those people who started the party are no longer entering Government House? Please, let us not allow more people to come and destroy our party.’
However, Chief Ekpe Atakpo, who is the leader of the Uyo District Leaders’ Forum holds a different view. He believes that the forum, which is made up of credible and active leaders, elders, youth leaders and women leaders, that dissociated itself from meetings and prefer to hold their own meeting at the private residence of “some self-acclaimed leader,” adding that the outcome of such meetings would not be binding on the people of Uyo.
“It is hereby sounded very clear and loud that any other decision searched at any private meeting, purportedly on behalf of Uyo Senatorial District people are obviously not the products of true representation of the district people, and as such should be discountenanced. We stand in accord with those expressed by other Senatorial districts that Eket Senatorial District be given the chance to produce the successor to Chief Akpabio in 2015,” he stressed.
The elders/stakeholders forum had Umana as its governorship candidate, giving him hope that the future of Akwa Ibom was bright. The EX-SSG had declared his interest to vie for the position of governorship in the state and spoken on a number of issues.
According to Umana, having watched events in the state, the leader have found out that the lieutenants of Governor Akpabio are making it look as if the governor is going to be a candidate in the 2015 governorship race.
“The governor will not be a candidate in 2015; I am interested in becoming the governor in 2015 and anybody who is interested, should not hide behind the shadows of the governor but should come out and campaign and present themselves to the people,” he said.
Looking at the line of division however, the Uyo Elders/Stakeholders’ Forum is thickly populated by those who served the present administration at various capacities in the past but have fallen out of favour, while the Leaders’ Forum is peopled by serving political/public office holders.
While the former group considers themselves as political bigwigs and major stakeholders and of the PDP in the state and who brought the party to the state in 1998, members of the latter group see themselves as the current, credible and active leaders and elders, who are presently working for the transformation of the state.
Even within the Eket senatorial district to which the party has finally zoned the governorship position, the contention is now between the Oron and Eket Federal Constituency and this may call for another round of town hall meetings to decide who fills in the slot. The Oron people are threatening fire if they are not given the chance to rule the state for the first
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