…as Akpabio/Udoedehe supremacy battle splits party
Ubong Sampson – Uyo
While last Saturday’s local government congress of the All Progressives Congress (APC) had aimed at electing new executives into its local government chapters across the country, the exercise left the party in Akwa Ibom state in splits, as there was hardly any of the 31 local government areas that did not witness the emergence of at least two parallel chapter chairmen and, in some cases, executives.
In Esit Eket local government, at least 4 persons emerged as chapter chairmen-elect. As gathered by our correspondent from reports that came from the area, Ekom Edet Essien, Nathaniel Essentia, Daniel Assan and Augustus Amos Nkuseying were all declared winners of the chairmanship nomination.
Among other areas that had more than one executive members are Eket and Uyo which doubles as the state’s capital.
This development attracted several negative reactions from members of the party and the observing public, one of which came from an APC Chieftain and former Caretaker Committee Chairman of Urue Offong/Oruko local government area, Chief Edet Isong widely known as Windy, condemned in strong terms the manner of which Saturday’s local government congresses were conducted around the state.
According to him, the All Progressives Congress was formed with integrity for the purpose of righting the wrongs of the PDP in the state, but was saddened about how sensitive issues such as the ward and local government congresses were being handled, while insisting that the party that was laboured for by progress minded Akwa Ibom people is gradually dying in the hands of greed.
Isong said the right way to have handled the congresses would have been allowing stakeholders from each local government area to handle their congresses and present results to the state, adding that it was rather unfortunate how greed had caused parallel congresses to take place to the party’s detriment.
Isong said it was shameful and embarrassing that at least 62 “chapter chairmen” purportedly emerged in Akwa Ibom State that has only 31 local government areas.
“Power tussle of this magnitude is very unhealthy to a political party. We are killing the party. I wasn’t expecting it this way. I thought that we had learnt our lessons and also had improved. The focus would have been to build a strong and formidable party, capable of grabbing power in the state come 2023 before even thinking of individual interests.
“What is happening now did not even happen before the last general election, what was the outcome of our outing? Before 2019, Obong Nsima Ekere was there. He funded the party and ensured every interest was carried along. If such good gesture was not enough to give us victory, we must start now to imagine the disaster that awaits us with this our terrible way of handling our party business”, he warned.
Meanwhile, the current factional crisis in the party is claimed by political pundits to have caused by the power struggle between Niger Delta Minister, Chief Godswill Akpabio and Senator James Udoedehe who is the Secretary of the Party’s National Caretaker Committee.
It is believed that Udoedehe who was displeased with the fact that Akpabio’s defection to the party in August 2018 had boosted the chances of Nsima Ekere getting the party’s gubernatorial ticket at his expense, had seen his appointment into the party’s national leadership as a big opportunity and has been utilising the opportunity maximally towards snatching all structures of the party for his 2023 governorship aspiration which Akpabio will most likely oppose.
While Udoedehe who is from Uyo local government area and the capital city of the state has been struggling in his gubernatorial aspiration against the zoning arrangement in the state, the 2023 zoning is in favour of his senatorial district which last produced a governor in Obong Victor Attah whose tenure ended in 2007.
