By Saidu Idris
365Daily – A support group sympathetic to the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Godswill Akpabio, the Senator Godswill Akpabio for Common Good, (SGACG), has called on President Muhammadu Buhari and the acting National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), to call an APC chieftain in Akwa Ibom, Chief Don Etiebet, to order.
SGACG accused Etiebet, a former Minister, of trying to unilaterally impose a governorship candidate in APC is the state, hence the call on the President to warn him not to throw the party into crisis but allow a democratic process to take place.
According to the group, Etiebet, by his recent actions, is attempting to create confusion that could potentially lead to bad blood among the party faithful in Akwa Ibom State.
The National Coordinator of SGACG, Dr. Jibril Tafida, stated this in a statement made available to the Media on Sunday, February 6, 2022, in Abuja.
Dr. Tafida, was reacting to what he called a sham meeting of the Akwa Ibom State APC led by Chief Etiebet. He described their action as a deliberate gang-up to destroy and create uncertainty in the state chapter of the party, adding, that Etiebet has no constitutional power nor mandate to decide or attempt to impose the governorship candidate on the party.”
According to the statement, Etiebet does not have the good will or political reach to either win or sponsor a candidate that would win election for the party in Akwa Ibom state.
Tafida said: “Etiebet had contested elections and endorsed many candidates, but he and his sponsored candidates lost woefully and miserably. Between 2006 and 2007 when Etiebet ran for elective office, he came 5th in the election.
“In 2015 he lost again and supported Umanah against Akpabio’s candidate and was beaten mercilessly. In 2019 he supported Nsima Ekere and hijacked the APC leadership in the state, the result was betrayal, sectional conspiracy with PDP to stop Akpabio’s Senate Presidency ambition thereby foisting defeat on APC in an election APC clearly won.
“Today, he is surprisingly claiming to have endorsed a governorship candidate and we wonder how such shenanigans would ever work in a state of enlightened voters like Akwa Ibom.
“In fact, even when he contested against Senator Akpabio in 2011 and came a miserable 4th in the primaries, the margin of his defeat was a deafening rejection of his brand of politics.
“It is ridiculous that he assumes he could succeed with his gambit and attention-seeking project, to actualise Amaechi’s misplaced ambition as a stepping stone,” he stressed.