2023: Akpabio Climbs the Nomination Hill

-Will He Ascend the Electoral Mountain?

The Supreme Court had recently declared the immediate past minister of Nigeria’s Delta affairs, Godswill Akpabio as the rightful candidate of the All-Progressives Congress (APC) for Akwa Ibom North West Senatorial district for the 2023 general elections.

This is the culmination of a series of claims and counter claims as to which of the primaries held by various factions of the party was legitimate.

Akpabio, a former Governor of the state, had sought to return to the Senate after having contested and failed at the June 6 presidential primary of his party, which saw former governor of Lagos State, Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu emerging as the party’s flag bearer.

Akpabio like Senate President Ahmed Lawan had sought the presidential ticket of the party at the presidential primary while eyeing a Senatorial return in the eventuality of not getting it. While the presidential primary which the duo partook took place between June 6 and 8, the senatorial primaries of the APC according to the ruling party’s timetable took place between May 27 and May 28 nationwide, about the time when both Akpabio and Lawan were busy preparing for the presidential primary.

The nationwide senatorial primaries of the ruling party produced DIG Udom Udo Ekpoudom (Rtd.)  and Bashir Machina as the senatorial candidates for Akwa Ibom North West and Yobe North senatorial candidates respectively. As Akpabio like Lawan scrambled to secure the tickets after their failed presidential primary bid, they encountered fierce resistance.

Although in Akwa Ibom, a few days after the APC presidential primary, a faction of the party in the state held a rerun primary that produced God’s will Akpabio as the senatorial candidate for the district.

Both Akpabio and Lawan however succeeded in getting the party leadership to submit their names to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) which was allegedly rejected by the body. Speaking on the submission of the name of Godswill Akpabio as candidate for Akwa Ibom North West senatorial district, the Resident Electoral Commissioner, Akwa Ibom State, Mr. Mike Igini, said INEC would only recognise the winner of the primaries it monitored, denying claim that INEC monitored the re-run APC senatorial primaries that produced Akpabio.

He added: “The primaries were concluded on the 27th of last month. The one that was conducted was monitored by INEC and the report has been submitted to Abuja. INEC is not aware of any senatorial primaries conducted on Thursday (June 9) that were monitored by INEC.”

Despite this assertion by INEC, Akpabio subsequently secured a federal high court order compelling the election management body to accept him as the rightful candidate of the APC. 

This decision was later overturned by the court of appeal sitting in Abuja. According to the appellate court in a ruling delivered by a three-judge panel presided over by Justice Danlami Senchi, Akpabio failed to file a proof of arguments within the time frame specified by the rules. The court also ruled that Akpabio, as an APC presidential candidate, could not participate in the party’s valid primary held on May 27 and overseen by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), which produced Udom Ekpoudom as a candidate.

But the subsequent judgement of the Supreme court however held that the appellate court lacked the jurisdiction to meddle in the issue of nomination of candidate for an election, which it said was within the purview of an internal affair of a political party.

While Akpabio seems to have circumvented the legal huddle, navigating the popular huddle through the ballot is without doubt an uphill task. Akpabio who was a two term governor of Akwa Ibom state and became senator in 2015 becoming senate minority leader before decamping to the APC in 2018 and losing his re – election bid has witnessed mounting opposition to his attempt to return to the Nigerian Senate.

There have been clamour for zoning of the senatorial ticket of Akwa Ibom Northwest to Abak federal constituency which allegedly is yet to produce a senator among the other federal constituencies in the senatorial district.

The Akwa Ibom North-West District comprises 10 local government areas which are grouped under four federal constituencies – Ikot Ekpene; Ikono/Ini; Ukanafun/Oruk Anam; and Abak. The last two federal constituencies, usually lumped together in political discourse, are popularly referred to as Abak-5.

According to supporters of DIG Ekpoudom Mr Akpabio’s Ikot Ekpene Federal Constituency has produced a senator five times, from 1963 till date, and that includes Mr Akpabio’s election as senator in 2015 and that Christopher Ekpenyong, the current senator representing the district, is also from Mr Akpabio’s constituency. That Ikono/Ini Federal Constituency has produced a senator twice, while Ukanafun/Oruk Anam has produced a senator thrice. While the  Abak Federal Constituency is the only constituency in the district that is yet to produce a senator.

Reacting to the Supreme court judgement, a former minister of Petroleum and a BoT member of the APC, who is also from Akwa Ibom state,  Don Etiebet, who expressed disappointment saying the federal constituency which Mr Akpabio is from in the district has produced a senator several times and that it is the turn of another federal constituency which has produced none before. Mr Etiebet says the political leaders in the district respect, but do not accept, the Supreme Court judgment on Mr Akpabio because of equity and fairness.

“We from the senatorial district have since resolved that it is the turn of Abak-5 Zone of the District and in particular, the Abak/Etim Ekpo/Ika Federal Constituency to produce the senator this time around since all the other three federal constituencies in the senatorial district have produced senators several times,” said Mr Etiebet who is a revered APC leader in Akwa Ibom.

Mr Etiebet said it was for the purpose of achieving equity and fairness that the APC members in the district elected a former deputy inspector general of police, Udom Ekpoudom, who is from the Abak Federal Constituency, as the party’s candidate for the senatorial election.

“Senator Godswill Akpabio did not participate in that senatorial primary monitored by INEC but having failed in his presidential bid he was pursuing at the time of the senatorial primary, he rushed back at a later date to have a nocturnal primary not monitored by INEC to declare himself as the senatorial candidate.

According to Etiebet, Mr Akpabio would have “given a chance to the Abak Federal Constituency to produce the next senator if he had any feeling of comradeship, brotherliness and love for others”.

The former minister said political leaders in the district have resolved to support any candidate from Abak Federal Constituency for the senatorial election.

In a similar being, the Chairperson of Essien Udim Local Government Council, which is Mr Akpabio’s local government,  Mr Anthony Luke, has also disclosed that the former minister would fail woefully in the 2023 senatorial election for the Akwa Ibom North-West District.

Mr Luke, who was speaking with journalists in Uyo last Monday, said Mr Akpabio is not popular in Essien Udim as people are made to believe. According to Luke, while Akpabio was governor, he concentrated development projects in his Ukana community to the detriment of several other communities in the local government area. This, he said, has rendered him unpopular among the people.

“What yardstick would they use to support him (Akpabio), when we have Ukana Clinic in Ukana, when we have MOPOL Base in Ukana, when we have Federal Polytechnic in Ukana, when we have Police Secondary School in Ukana?

“What will my people and others have to show? What is there in Odoro Ikot? What do we have to show in Afaha? What do we have to show in Ukana West 1? What do we have to show in Ikpe? What do we have to show in Adiasim? What do we have to show in Ekpenyong 1 and 2? “Ukana may support him but write it down, he (Akpabio) cannot win in Essien Udim.

“My ward would not support him. The other time (2019 elections), their party (APC) got zero votes in my community, Okon”, Mr Luke said.

He further added that Mr Akpabio does not have special anointing to remain in political power so he has to give another person a chance. 

“The people who think Akpabio will win this election are dreaming,” Luke said emphatically.

It is however unclear if Don Etiebet and other APC leaders in the district will throw their weight behind the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Emmanuel Enoidem, who is from the Abak Federal Constituency.

Also reacting to Mr Etiebet’s remark the spokesperson of Godswill Akpabio campaign organization, Joe Iniodu,  said, “It is strange that while PDP jettisons zoning at the national level, it orchestrates it with missionary zealotry in Abak/Etim-Ekpo/lka Federal Constituency.”

So far with the growing dissenting voices Akpabio’s electoral prospects in a PDP dominated state is a long shot.