A group under the aegis of Movement for Better Nigeria (MBN) has urged the National Chairman of All Progressives Congress (APC), Abdullahi Adamu, to expel Senator Godswill Akpabio and Senator John James Akpan Udoedehe from the party in Akwa Ibom State.
Addressing a press conference in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State capital, on Tuesday, spokesman of the group, Dr Paul Dowell, said the duo of Akpabio and Udoedehe have been identified as the major reason why the party is unable to make the desired progress in the state.
The group insisted that the two gladiators are the major cause of the poor performance of APC in Akwa Ibom State from 2011 to 2019 adding that the party will not fold her arms to see these personalities fighting for the party to lose out in the battle for the soul of Akwa Ibom State in 2023. He observed that out of 329 wards in Akwa Ibom State, APC was unable to secure a councillor, in ten federal constituencies, the party had no representative as well as a Senator in the state. The group spokesman said Udoedehe and Akpabio have grounded APC in the state because of their personal and selfish interest and cannot accept such disposition in 2023.
“What we have been suffering in this state since 2011 is ownership and entitlement mentality of a member who feels that without him there is No APC in Akwa Ibom. That is why we have remained down politically in the state. In 2015 that same person came again claiming to be the owner of APC when the likes of Comrade David Ekanem, late Idongesit Udoekpo, late Steve Ibanga and others who went to his house and lobbied him to leave PDP and join APC did not claim ownership. That same fight began and APC lost the election.
“We will no longer fold our arms and watch these people take us back to the dark days. It is said that when two elephants fight, the grass suffers. In this case, APC in Akwa Ibom suffers the fight between the two persons in the party which has led to the polarisation of the party.”
The group explained that Akpabio was admitted into APC in 2019 but he came with a lot of troubles while Udoedehe claims ownership and entitlement mentality in the party. He said these two factions are not helping APC to succeed in Akwa Ibom and urged the National Chairman of APC, Abdullahi Adamu, to exit them from the party in the state if it must succeed in 2023.
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“In 2019, we brought Akpabio to the party, but he came with a lot of trouble, the duo are championing their selfish interest embellished with sabotage which made APC lose again.
“Though Akpabio was compensated with the office of the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, taking the glory of other people who worked tirelessly for the party while Udoedehe became the National Secretary.”
He argued that the above compensation never settled them as they went about destroying the chances of the party during election times in the state. He said all the aspirants and the generality of Akwa Ibom people are confused on who to follow adding that “enough is enough” to internal wranglings in Akwa Ibom APC.
“Now again! 2022, that same person and his likes are here, we say never again! APC has gone a long way and should allow internal democracy to thrive and not to allow one person who sees the party as his birth right to have his way. We expect the party to sit down and strategize on how to win the state and not to allow internal fighting,” he said.
The group spokesman recalled that the ambushing of APC governorship primaries materials from the Airport to where there were shootings along Oron Road in Uyo City was a manifestation of the two factions working for themselves instead of the party in the state.
“The ambush of national officers from the Obong Victor Attah’s International airport, the sporadic shooting and the fracas between the two groups were indicators that peace is still far from the two groups in the party,” he said.
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