Political fortune tellers had seen the recent decampment of Sen. Godswill Akpabio as a telling Nunc Dimitis for the South South-zone in Nigeria and that sooner than later many more south South states could follow the path of Akpabio to the APC.
Agreed, Sen. Akpabio was powerful and a successful governor of Akwa Ibom state for eight years and he left, in his wake, glorious footprints on the rivers and waters of Akwa Ibom.
The majority ethnic group in Akwa Ibom are the Ibibios while Akpabio is from an ethnic minority. And it will be difficult for him to galvanize the entire people to cross over to the APC.
Perhaps, he wanted to rub shoulders with Sen. Saraki, who, during his crossing over to the PDP took along the governor and the entire Kwara cabinet into the PDP. Akpabio managed to gather some three senators and a few House of Reps members to be at his Ikot-ekpene gathering in Akwa Ibom.
If he was promised the post of the Sen. President during his secret talk with the Vice President, President Buhari in London and the Ashiwaju Bola Tinubu, it seems like typical political gamblers who reaped their harvest before the planting season.
Recently, there was a fresh tactics of the federal government in freezing accounts of Benue and Akwa Ibom states. Could that action be, perhaps, to break the backbone of Governor Emmanuel Udom of Akwa Ibom state?
This is an old tactics applied by Pa Awolowo who suggested to Gen. Yakubu Gowon to apply starvation as a weapon of their civil war against the Republic of Biafra led by Odumegwu Emeka Ojukwu from 1967-1970. More so, it was by hunger than bullets from the federal side that led to the easy collapse of the secessionist Biafrans.
Financial strangulation by the federal government could as well be a new strategy, if applied effectively against other PDP states could lead to another round of mass defection by affected PDP governors.
The precedent could be dangerous in the extreme and for any government that is being threatened by further cross carpeting, that may well be the only option. Many dangers lie ahead of 2019 elections.
If politicians now use what they have to get what they want then it means the Constitution no longer can save any one who feels trampled upon by temporary leaders controlling the levers of state power; then the same could be applied to them when their tenure is over.
My appeal to South-South governors is to be pro-active and plug all fledgling internal dissensions in their states and hold the party members close to their hearts and chests.
The Akpabio virus must not be allowed to spread beyond Ikot-ekpene, Akpabio’s backyard. Bola Tinubu the leader of the APC spoke at the declaration ground when Akpabiosoke extensively talked about conquering the whole of the South-South zone with his decampment.
As politicians brighten the political atmosphere with the their decampments from one party to another, the followership must be suspicious of the moves of such long treated politicians who feel their followers desires no longer count.
The dormant politicians who remain glued to their seats and parties, definitely, may be considering what steps to take in the coming months. Like cockroaches that politicians are, midnight deals are always taking place across the country and the earlier the better for them.
It takes the political hippopotamus to swim against the tide in these heady days where no one really knows where the country is headed- for doom or salvation.
Niger Deltans must resist Akpabio’s attempt to subjugate the whole zone of the South-South and to let him have his way is like warder committing murder of any of his inmates and getting away with it.
Where are the Okowas, Dicksons, Wikes and the rest sons of South- South? Pre-emptive strike and action is needed to nip this dangerous enslavement in the bud. No way to Akpabio’s enslavement mentality.
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