Akpabio’s Reluctance For Presidency Is panicking Nigerians – APC Chieftain
The Secretary of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Elders Forum, Atuekong Dr. Chris Akpan, is a consummate politician with encyclopedic knowledge about Akwa Ibom and Nigerian politics. Having served as Director General of Godswill Akpabio Campaign Organization in 2019, he still remains an integral part of the inner circle of the current Minister of Niger Delta Affairs. In this interview with our Editor Weekend, UBONGABASI ISE, Atuekong Dr. Chris Akpan takes time to explain the actual situation of conflicts within the APC fold. He has also revealed how Senator Akpabio is finding himself under intense pressure by Nigerians, who are urging him to contest in the 2023 presidential elections. His another major talking point is the prevailing relationship between Senator Godswill Akpabio and his successor, Governor Udom Emmanuel, EXCERPT:
Looking at political trend, it has taken
another dimension, what role are you playing now in the sphere of politics?
As it would be recalled, we were all moving with Senator Godswill Akpabio from the PDP to APC, and it has not been easy. There are challenges in APC, but so far, we have faced those challenges well; we have rooted ourselves properly in the party with our Grand Leader, Godswill Akpabio, the leader of the APC in Akwa Ibom State. He is going to provide the needed direction for the party. His plan is to position the party to make it a credible fighting machine with view to claiming our mandate that we were cheated out of in the last governorship election. The candidate of APC was very popular, highly accepted but corruption and other shenanigans by the ruling party in the state robbed us from a well-deserved victory. So we are struggling now to reposition the party to make it a credible fighting force that should be able, by God’s grace, to take over the reins of power from the fumbling PDP, provide what our people needs, and meet the aspirations of Akwa Ibom people and their yearnings which so far have been largely unmet. So we have a lot of works to do because even within the APC, the reactionary forces are not finding it funny, but we are struggling and trying to make the party successful for once. It is not an easy battle, but I have no doubt in my mind that with the leadership and the direction provided by Senator Godswill Akpabio, the current Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, the larger goal would be achieved.
You have not talked about your current role
in the All Progressives Congress (APC)
I am the Secretary of the APC Elders Forum. I was invited to look for a position, but I told them I have stayed long in this game. I believe I can better provide advice as an elder and form part of the conscience of the party at the state level so that we do the right thing, get our people to embrace democracy as it should be, and get the party to take over government and implement its manifesto. If that is done, Akwa Ibom would become a much better place than today.
The APC, your party, seems to be troubled by
the internal conflicts, what would you say about this?
The matter is simple. The mantra of the party is that there is no such thing as an old member or a new member. As long as you are in APC you have as much privileges and rights as the man who was there 10 to 20 years ago. But the people are not living by that tenet. People went to Abuja and got positions there and now they are trying to use it and disenfranchise the bulk of the party by handpicking certain people to occupy offices. It is a kind of presenting a façade of consensus whereas there has been no meeting, let alone to agree. So it is our duty within the party to ensure that the basic tenets of democracy are upheld. That is why you find it appearing as if we are fighting amongst ourselves. Some persons would want to occupy offices without subjecting themselves to the demands of the party and a due election. They want to go to the offices through backdoor. Of course they want to use those offices to feather their nests and this is not in the interest of our people in any way. So there is resistance to these absurd methods of looking for power. It is the resistance that makes it appears as if the party is not in harmony. But there is no doubt in my mind that, at the end of the day, commonsense will prevail, and people who deserve to hold office would be allowed. There are a lot of potentials in the APC to win election provided there is internal democracy and discipline within the party.
The disharmony in the party had manifested
in the last state congress whereby three different factions allegedly produced
three different state executives, how would you address this situation?
Exactly what I said earlier.
And how would the party operate with three factional
executives in place?
Of course you know this is politics. There would be attempts and efforts to streamline and harmonize every interest. You know if we go to the battle fragmented as we appear to be, of course you could predict the outcome of the battle. But I have the complete confidence in our leaders in that when they sit together, they would ensure that the interest of everybody is served. So we still look forward to the leadership of the party at the state and the national levels to sit down together and work out something that would benefit all.
Some members of the party believe that the Akwa
Ibom Democratic Forum (ADF) is a faction that is outside mainstream APC, pointing
that the state executive members or other officials produced by factional ADF for
the party are not APC’s officials and that they are only representing the
interest of ADF, what could you say about this?
APC, as it is, is made up of many tendencies. Don’t forget that the APC is an amalgam of so many parties before. Within the APC, there are tendencies depending on what your interest is, and that is allowed in politics. Even within the extreme right or left, you have what we call the ‘middle-of-the-road’ interest. So we have APC and within the APC fold we have Akwa Ibom APC Coalition (AAC), which is Udoedeghe’s faction. His Excellency, Sam Ewang, has his own group; Godswill Akpabio has ADF and so on. But in APC, all these interests are subsumed for a larger interest of the party, and all these groupings are kind of harmonized. But given the overbearing posture of the AAC, wanting to impose whatever they want on the rest of the people, this becomes the cause of the conflict. Other tendencies have completely subsumed whatever interest they have and subordinate them to the interest of the party. People are sitting down believing the party should begin and end with them, and we are saying No. They should better use common sense and retrace their steps. We have gone to court and we have gotten many of the reliefs that we sought for in court and we are ready to go right up to the Supreme Court to ensure that democracy is practiced and reinstated within the APC family.
Don’t you think litigations might cripple
your winning chances in the coming election?
That is a weaker view. Must we continue in sin so that grace may abound? If we don’t arrest these undemocratic tendencies now, it would continue, and after sometimes, we might not practice democracy as it should be practiced. All undemocratic tendencies must be challenged; evil must be challenged until defeated. It does not bother us at all; it does not matter.
The concern is how long will it take to
defeat what you call undemocratic tendencies?
As long as it takes the undemocratic forces to surrender.
But what if they refuse to surrender before
the election, won’t this affect the party’s chances?
What is worth doing is what worth doing well.
Let’s talk about the Minister of Niger Delta
Affairs, former governor of Akwa Ibom State, and the Grand Leader of ADF,
Senator Godswill Akpabio. It seems some Nigerians are clamoring for Akpabio’s
presidency. As a member of his inner circle, is there any indication that your principal
is seeking to emerge as the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria in
2023?
Yes, people are clamouring but he has been reluctant. So many people in the country have seen the qualities in him. He is the kind of man we need at a time like this in Nigeria. Everybody knows he has the wherewithal. The clamouring is even more outside Akwa Ibom State than within the state. And I have no doubt in my mind that if he is given the chance at the presidency, circumstances of Nigeria would change immediately given his charisma, his brilliance, and his doggedness. There is no doubt at all that the fortunes of Nigeria would change if he emerges. Many forces who love this country feel that he should be drafted into this race even as reluctant as he is but I am sure if God wishes, his reluctance and resistance might completely collapse. There is no doubt if we have him in the ballot and succeed making him the president of Nigeria it won’t be business as usual. Nigeria will be a changed place. His brilliance and his sense of fruitful engagements would bring many things to the country and would move the country into the right direction with observable results. No doubt about it, he is the man of the moment.
As a close person, how intense is the
pressure on him to run for the presidency?
It is very intense, but don’t forget he takes his job as the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs very seriously. And he wants to set example by changing the perception of Niger Delta as centre of corruption. He wants to do his job and doesn’t want to be distracted. However, the pressure is on; people are shouting more and more but in the next two years he would have been done as the Minister of the Niger Delta Affairs, and might want to come in and oblige those who are struggling to drag him into it.
The leadership of the Niger Delta is another
one issue. What are those main challenges or threats as he seeks to lead and pilot
the affairs of Niger-Delta?
He has not aspired to be the leader of the Niger-Delta. Niger Delta has people who have arrogated to themselves, traditionally, the leadership of the region. All he is struggling to do is to change the narrative of the Niger Delta, especially, the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) as a citadel of corruption. You see that over 22,000 projects were abandoned even after many of them were paid for, robbing the Niger Delta of development. And he has taken the bull by the horn to ensure that these people are called to do their jobs or they are held to account. Nobody likes that, and a lot of noises people are making are because, for the first time, they have been called to account, and of course you know Nigerians, they would generate controversies and bring strife on him. But as far as he remains focused and on course to salvage the Niger Delta, it is a task that all must commend him for and share in his determination to sanitize the place and bring genuine progress and development to our region.
There is a particular claim in some quarters
in the state that Senator Akpabio is apparently trying to foist a governor on
Akwa Ibom people in the coming election, how true is this?
Godswill Akpabio, in all the fora we have gone to, has emphasized that the governor must come from Uyo Senatorial district and it is the business of Uyo to present who they want. He is not very comfortable with the last time he tried to put in a governor when his hands were burnt. He won’t try that again. So far he has not told me ‘I want that man there.’ It is for Uyo people to determine who they want and push him forward for acceptance by the generality of the people. For one, the governor of Akwa Ibom State must necessarily be elected by all the three senatorial districts: Eket, Uyo and Ikot Ekpene. To an extent at primaries, people would be bound to express their interests on who they want.
In the last general election, Senator
Godswill Akpabio and his godson, seemed to fallout on many fronts…
(..cuts in) Let me tell you, once your mind is preset to stab somebody in the back and to show ingratitude, even if the man you are fighting is Jesus Christ and does the best things, you must find excuses to destabilize him and try to make him irrelevant. I am not surprise at all with what is going on. But Godswill Akpabio, as I very much know him, has no capacity to hate. He is a free-minded man who wants progress and development for everybody. So what is happening is one-sided game of hate. There is no reciprocation on his own part. That is why God continues to lift him up because, in his heart, he wishes everybody well and believes people should progress and live in dignity and respect.
Recently the governor of Akwa Ibom State
commissioned Uyo-Ikot Ekpene road project initiated by Akpabio, and at the same
time, it has been rumored that Governor Udom Emmanuel would move to APC. Given
these two scenarios, is there any kind of understanding between the governor
and Senator Godswill Akpabio probably unknown to the members of the public?
I don’t think so. If there was any understanding between them, the governor would not have gone to the road to say it was 20% done when every citizen knows that what Godswill Akpabio did was a lot more than that. The job was almost 75% done, but for someone to go and tell a lie that it was 20% at the level he met it, then a man like that can never be your friend and cannot wish you well. I don’t think there is such understanding. But then the political party is opened to all and sundry. Whoever wants to join it can join. Whatever tendency within the party that you want to belong to, it’s your choice.
Given where he comes from, what do you think
could be the plans of Senator Godswill Akpabio for the people of Ikot Ekpene
Senatorial District in two years time?
Well, as a Senator he did very well for the people of Ikot Ekpene Senatorial District because that was within his purview. As a minister, I am sure he would try his best to ensure that some projects go to Ikot Ekpene Senatorial District. But it would be unfair to expect him to favour Ikot Ekpene Senatorial District in his current office above all others. We only ask for what is fair to us, and I am sure he would do that. He cannot neglect Ikot Ekpene Senatorial District while developing other areas in the country. So I have no doubt at all that he means well for the people of Ikot Ekpene Senatorial District. And we don’t have to teach him how to serve the people of Ikot Ekpene Senatorial District. We are convinced that he is a good citizen and a good leader. What he deems fit, he would do that for his people.
What should the
Akwa Ibom people in general expect from Akpabio in the next one to two years?
Well, so far, he has carried out very difficult task; we expect him to sustain it and we expect him to ensure that Akwa Ibom State takes its dues from the office he is holding now as other places. We don’t expect him to come and shortchange us. So knowing him for who he is, I have no doubt at all in my mind that he has the interest of the state at heart and he would do a lot.
All I wish to tell Akwa Ibom people is that time would soon be available for them to make very hard choices. With the experience that we have had under successive governments, we should make the right choice. APC is the way to go if we want to develop and get our people to climb out from poverty that is starring everybody in the face. People say PDP is a religion in Akwa Ibom State and that whatever happens, PDP is going to be victorious but they forget that this is a democracy. When you are given a chance and you can’t deliver, you have to get out of the way so that others can come in and try to perform. The state should change to APC. I have no doubt in my mind that the people of Akwa Ibom State are waiting eagerly to come and change this cluelessness we have seen with the current PDP government; APC is the way to go.
APC is the way to go? But considering several criticisms on APC at the federal level, don’t you think this may also affect the chances of the party in the coming elections in the state?
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