By Ife Osemedua
365Daily – The festering internal wrangling and power tussle in the Akwa Ibom State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) is taking a more serious dimension with the recent inauguration of two separate leadership structures in the state.
It is feared that the intra-party wrangling would most likely leave the party more vulnerable than it was in 2019 when it lost every key election in the state.
The two factional structures are promoted by a former governor of the state and current Minister of the Niger Delta Affairs, Senator Godswill Akpabio and the Secretary of the APC Caretaker /Extraordinary National Convention Planning Committee, Senator James Akpan Udoedege, respectively.
Both former senators emerged leaders in their respective factions.
‘Strong’ personalities overshadow party interest as Akwa Ibom APC falls apart
While Akpabio’s faction led by former Military Administrator, Group Captain Sam Ewang (rtd), appointed him Leader of the party, Udoedege’s Akwa Ibom APC Coalition (AAC), which has former Minister, Don Etiebet, and many other party leaders, including ward, local government and state executive, appointed him, Grand Leader of the party.
Akpabio, while accepting to lead the party, made allusion to the internal crisis in the party when he said, “What you have called me out to do now is that I should begin to give direction to the multitude, so that our people will not go astray. I give you my words today, that I have accepted your call, and your lives will never be the same again. Lack of direction ends today.”
Many attribute the unhealthy relationship, especially among the prominent leaders in the party, which led to this development, to ego, mutual distrust, and manifest inability to function as team members for the overall good of the party.
*Akpabio and Udoedehe
The chasm of divisiveness, fanned by supporters of prominent personalities in the party and promoted by their public utterances and avoidable altercations on social media, was apparently exposed after the 2019 general elections in which the APC suffered severe defeat in the hands of the ruling party in the state, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
Against all permutations in 2019, the APC in Akwa Ibom did not only lose the governorship election to the incumbent Governor Udom Emmanuel, it also lost all the Senatorial, House of Representatives and House of Assembly elections, including the Senate seat of the former governor, Akpabio, who had defected from PDP to APC prior to the election.
The only seat the APC won in the House of Assembly was later lost at the election petition tribunal.
Many had hoped that the party’s fortunes at the 2019 elections would be different, especially with Senator Akpabio, who many political analysts had predicted would come to the party with a lot of clout and political goodwill, but that was shockingly not to be, as the PDP decimated the APC and its candidates at the polls.
Accusations and counter allegations
While prominent players in the party had tried to downplay the internal rift in the state chapter of the party, close observers could easily point to a number of indicators that suggested the obvious.
Early signs that all was not going well in the party appeared before President Muhammadu Buhari appointed his second term cabinet.
While the party was still smarting from the blistering bruises of its collective electoral failure in the state, rumours filtered in that Senator Akpabio might be appointed Minister.
What was supposed to be a collective soul-lifting news for the party at a time it was struggling to come to terms with the outcome of the election, rather elicited rancour within the ranks of the party, as some interest groups within the party petitioned the president, asking him not to nominate Akpabio for a number of reasons.
They referenced the fact that against all expectations, he was not able to attract quality individuals with electoral capital, including members of the House of Assembly, to the party.
Hence, Akpabio was blamed partly for the party’s electoral misfortunes. They accused him of being a destabilising factor and a divisive element, rather than an asset to the party, due to what they alleged was his “overbearing attitude that is insensitive to the wishes and opinions of others in decisions and matters that concern the party, especially during the campaigns.”
He was also accused of being a control freak who, though was a new member in the party, wanted to lord it over every other member, irrespective of the leadership roles such individuals had played prior to his defection.
The case against Senator Udoedehe
While a section of APC members in the state consider Senator Udoedege as the natural leader of the party in the state, given that he had been in the driving seat of the party before Senator Akpabio joined, the latter’s followers do not rate him highly in that regard.
They accused him of being rigid, uncharismatic and alienated from the people, especially the youth, who alleged that they have not benefited from him as much as they did from Akpabio, who they applauded for his empowerment efforts for the youths in the state.
These attributes, they said, would inhibit the kind of progressive leadership the party needs to take it to new heights.
They also accused him of being jealous of Senator Akpabio’s political and personal achievements, alleging that he was the force behind the unsuccessful campaign against the former governor’s appointment as Minister.
Controversies, denials
The state chairman of the party, Dr. Ita Udosen, at a news conference in Uyo, the state capital, said that there is no division in the party.
But in the same breath, he accused the Akpabio faction chairman of the party, Ewang, of disparaging the Constitution of the party by holding a factional meeting.
*APC Akwa Ibom exco
The State Working Committee then went ahead to summon him for convening what it described as an “illegal stakeholders meeting” where Senator Akpabio was proclaimed as leader of the party in the state.
Curiously, a member of Odoedege’s faction, Don Etiebet, queried the publication of his name in the list of patrons of AAC on grounds of not having been properly consulted prior to the publication. He was appointed as Grand Patron of the group, but with this development, it’s obvious that he was neither at that meeting nor consulted.
How the party and its leaders would resolve this division and get itself ready for 2023 elections remains a litmus test for its survival, success and integrity.