Godswill Akpabio And Rivers’ PDP

The constitution of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) as amended said nothing about the position of the Chairmanship of PDP Governors’ Forum. It was silent on the matter, and therefore Governor Godswill Obot Akpabio cannot and should not dictate how the membership of Rivers PDP should treat the sensitive issue of zoning of political offices in Rivers State. If the governorship position in his state, Akwa Ibom, has been zoned to Eket political district, what is wrong or absurd about Riverine people of Rivers State arguing and insisting that the governorship position in the state should move away from upland to riverine section? Since 1999 that the military allowed us to resume our democratic journey, the governors of the state have come from the same geo- ethnic area. This is easily verifiable.

Governor Akpabio, in a live television programme on November 13, 2014 said that because PDP is in opposition in Rivers State, zoning in that state should not be rigidly followed. Again, a peep into PDP Constitution reveals no place where it was stated that should PDP be in opposition in a state, that any part of its constitution should be voided or temporarily ignored. In fact, section 7 of the party’s constitution clearly states that for equity, fairness, justice and freedom, zoning and rotation of elective offices are entrenched. One single fact remains that Rivers State is undeniably PDP and that explains why all its governors, including Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi were elected on PDP platform. That he was forced out of the party by a clique led by Chief Nyesom Wike, the immediate past Minister of State for Education, does not make Rivers State any less PDP.

Governor Akpabio was brought into Akwa Ibom government as Commissioner for Petroleum by Governor Victor Attah, and when Attah mooted the idea of presenting him as the Deputy Governor in replacement of his deputy, Chris Ekpenyong, there was stiff opposition from the elders of the party in the state and at the national levels. Attah then redeployed Godswill Akpabio to the Ministry of Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, a grassroot ministry, with the clear intention of grooming him for higher responsibility in the future, in fact, of becoming the governor of the state, through zoning and rotation. Happily, Akpabio is still singing the mantra that Akwa Ibom PDP has zoned the 2015 governorship position in Akwa Ibom to Eket Senatorial District, and now clearly backing a particular candidate from that zone.

Curiously, Akpabio, in the live television interview, insisted that all that Rivers PDP need do is to go for ‘a strong man’ and not insist on flying the zoning flag for the 2015 governorship election. He was diplomatically routing for Nyesom Wike who, in his view, should succeed another Ikwerre like him, in a multi-ethnic and multi-cultural society like Rivers State. Wike completed his NYSC programme in 1998 and was elected Local Government Chairman in 1999 through court ruling. In 2007, he became the Chief of Staff to a governor who also assumed power through court ruling and later was nominated by the same governor to Abuja as a minister. He is eminently qualified to govern our state. But it does not stop there. There are other aspirants within the PDP who are far more eminently qualified than Wike – many times over.

Let’s call a spade by its name: there is no dearth of governorship materials in this state. There is tested technocrat and administrators like Mr Bekinbo Dagogo-Jack, Dumu Lulu-Briggs and others, including one or two Ogoni sons. So, why is Governor Akpabio trying to promote justice, equity and fair play in his domain, Akwa Ibom, and advocating injustice and marginalisation in my Rivers State? We will resist it.