From Noah Ebije, Kaduna
National Coordinator, Senator Godswill Akpabio for Common Good (SGACG), Dr. Jibrill Tafida has said that the only person who has the wherewithal to control the political pendulum of Akwa Ibom State in 2023 general elections is Senator Godswill Akpabio.
In a statement on Monday, Dr. Tafida noted that some persons have started making reckless political moves to destabilise politics in Akwa Ibom State.
“Our attention has been drawn to a meeting of Akwa Ibom State APC, said to have been led by some old politicians in a new gang-up to destroy our party and create uncertainty in the party chapter sponsored by someone who has ambition to become a president.
“We wish to therefore categorically state these home truths, so that innocent Akwa Ibom members won’t fall victim to this empty new charade.
“To set the records straight, those politicians have no any constitutional power and mandate to decide for the party on even local government chairmanship candidacy, let alone who becomes governor in Akwa Ibom.
“It is well-known that those politicians have no electoral value to command any political loyalty to decide who should be president of this country.
“It is also on record that one of such politicians had contested elections and endorsed many candidates but lost.
“Today he is surprisingly claiming to endorse a governorship candidate and we wonder how such a tirade would ever work in a State of enlightened voters like Akwa Ibom.
“Infact, Even when he contested against Senator Akpabio in 2011 and became 4th in primaries he failed by a very wide margin.
“It is clear that having been so many years in political oblivion, and still a political liability, he assumes he could launch himself back to reckoning politically, through a smokescreen called 2023 presidential project; to attract the attention using Akwa Ibom chapter of the party.
“The fear of the decades of Akpabio’s political and economic goodwill not just in Akwa Ibom but the entire nation is the beginning of political wisdom by these politicians.
“The agenda is clear to us, that such politician also has an intent to create confusion by sponsoring his political stooges to decide for Akwa Ibom, in the hope that the hero of Niger Delta – Minister Godswill Akpabio’s historic efforts to upgrade the socio-economic status of the State and region would be wiped clean and blacked out. Their action is clearly driven by both the hunger for absolute power and pure envy.
“We call on President Muhammadu Buhari and the acting National chairman to call the concerned politician and his cohort to order to desist from creating confusion in Akwa Ibom State and allow a democratic process to take place.
“We also call on the good people of Akwa Ibom in particular and the Niger Delta in particular to ignore the rantings of this politician who was already half-forgotten politically”. The statement said.