Hon Jacob Ime Udoette (JP)
When the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Akwa Ibom State was gearing up for its congresses, there was palpable tension in the air. Party members and the general public held their breath in anticipation of a rancorous congress at all levels in the state. The tension was not unconnected with the spate of violent written altercation flying about in the media between supporters of rival chieftains of the party.
The party congress came and wisdom prevailed. All camps collapsed their divergent interests in the interest of the survival of the party in the state. It was a win win affairs as the offices were apportioned to cover all interests. One of the main gladiators, Senator John Akpanudoedehe told a group of online media personalities in the state, as reported in the social media that it was a no-victor-no-vanquished resolution of all the contending issues in the party. He was also quoted to have assured that he would work in the interest of the party to ensure that the State is delivered to the APC in the 2019 governorship election in the state.
But the tenuous peace that was achieved seems to have now gone down the drains, all thanks to one of the party’s chieftains, Senator John Akpanudoedehe. The leopard cannot do without its spots, so says the sages. This aptly captures the man Senator Udoedehe and his antics. He crashed the peace effort in yet another of his characteristics bile-filled interviews last Saturday. Even while he labored futilely to explain the well known identity of him as a violent, intemperate man; an image he has acquired as a politician over time, he failed woefully. He not only maintained, but re-enforced that perception throughout the several minutes he spent fielding questions on a radio programme hosted by Inspiration FM in Uyo. Perhaps, he is not aware that violence need not be physical; it can also be verbal. And he was verbally brutish and extremely ill-tempered throughout the interview.
As expected, he lashed out at his fellow All Progressive Congress party leaders, told the same tales he had peddled in the past four years; lamented his so called ouster from “his” party by the likes of Obong Nsima Ekere, Mr. Umana Okon Umana, Atuekong Don Etiebet, Senator Ita Enang and others that he conveniently labeled PDP invaders. He did not spare Senator Akpabio, former governor of the state, who he accused of stealing, with his family, a trillion Naira from the state coffers. He accused the incumbent of being a puppet, whose only achievement has been the task of keeping accounts book and maintaining financial housekeeping for his predecessor and his family.
In pushing his argument, Senator Udoedehe sought to demonize other party leaders, labeling them with all types of criminalities. He, as usual, accused them of reaping where they did not sow; accused them of being in bed with Former Governor Akpabio, when he, Udoedehe left to champion the cause of the Ibibio. He accused fellow party members and leaders of the party in the state of being masterminds of the killings that characterized the government of Chief Godswill Akpabio, among other grave accusations.
Any rational person would, however, see the folly of the Senator’s accusations. For instance, he has not told Akwa Ibom people how those he accused of “helping Akpabio” to kill Ibibio people carried out the task. How does a government functionary, whose job description in a government has nothing to do with security be expected to be held responsible for security challenges? Perhaps the Senator has forgotten that there is only one Chief Security Officer at a time in any state. He failed to answer the rational question of the role of security agencies on security situations. He failed to mention any security report that has in any way indicted any of his verbal victims. His laughable stand on the security challenges at that point in our state’s history is like saying that he, Senator Akpanudoedehe, was responsible for all the crimes that took place in Nigeria when he served as minister of State. It is like saying that all the people in government during the regime of Chief Obasanjo, when Bola Ige, then Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice was murdered, or When Chief Dikibo was murdered, were all culpable.
The Senator even unfortunately owned up to have maliciously manufactured his puerile comment that Obong Nsima Ekere sniffs Cocaine, an allegation whose video has been trending for two years. He said he told the lie because Ekere organized the APC to expel him from the party. That was the lowest a supposed leader could go. But to a politician of Udoedehe’s reputation, no low could be too low.
Senator Udoedehe was as theatrics as ever. He bandied accusations that make people laugh and most often box himself in total confusion. For instance he, in response to a question said if he was interested in going to the senate, he would simply join the PDP, because that was where he was sure he could win, but in a most confused manner insisted on contesting the governorship under his party, the APC.
In the light of the current outing by the Senator, it will be most desirable to take a historical look at some of the propaganda items that Senator John Akpanudoedehe has been selling to the public and explode same in the interest of those who had forgotten so soon or those who were not privy to events that snapped Udoedeehe’s political odyssey from 2007 till date.
THE LIE THAT SEN. UDOEDEHE IS THE OWNER OF APC
This is one flank of his argument that he and his supporters have pushed to an elastic limit. They claim that the other leaders of APC, were enjoying with Akpabio, while Udoedehe was busy building the party. A little look at the history of the making of APC in the state will show that even Senator John Akpanudoedehe was also a joiner. The Action Congress was the forerunner of the party today called APC. The party contested the 2007 governorship election in the State. It’s governorship candidate was Mr. James Iniama, who contested against Chief Godswill Akpabio. In that election, Senator John Udoedehe was the campaign manager of the Godswill Akpabio campaign. As a rival party, even though fringe, the AC did not find it easy. The stabilizing and urbane nature of the then governor, Obong Victor Attah, coupled with the fact that even Attah had nothing to lose in that election ensured that Iniama had minimal attacks.
No sooner had Attah left and the new governor sworn in did James Iniama see the other side of power. He was run out of the state and he fizzled out thereafter. Senator John Udoedehe was there and actively participated in the new government and even became a minister of State.
While Udoedehe continued to enjoy the pecks of being a major player in the Akpabio government, people laboured to piece together what remained of the James Iniama era of the Action Congress. They laboured through reorganizations that eventually led to the party changing its name to Action Congress of Nigeria.
People laboured for the sustenance of the Action Congress of Nigeria, until Senator John Akpanudoedehe, in search of a party to contest the 2011 governorship election, after falling out with Governor Akpabio, abandoned his party the PDP and moved with his men into the ACN on October 16, 2010. It is to be noted that Senator Udoedehe served as a Minister of State as a member of the PDP. Chief Godswill Akpabio was his benefactor and he enjoyed as much as, if not more than, any of the people he is now accusing, the government of Chief Akpabio and the PDP. He therefore has no moral right to keep passing comments against any other APC chieftain, who also served the state under PDP government.
The politics of Udoedehe’s movement to ACN was dramatic. He was alleged to have impressed it on the party at the National level that he was the only one capable of confronting Akpabio from among the aspirants in the party at the state level. To give way for his eventual movement into the party, a report by Franklyn Isong of the Weekly Insight Newspaper of Dec, 2010 says that the party at its NEC on December 1, 2010 had to dissolve the Executive Committee of the party in Akwa Ibom State and suspended its congress billed to hold on December 7, 2010, “because the party was considering handing over the State structure of the party to a former PDP chieftain, due to the belief that he has the political wit and connections in the country to over run the State governor, Chief Godswill Akpabio, who may possibly emerge as the PDP candidate in the 2011 governorship elections”
According to the report, protestations from the party chairman, Comrade David Ekanem, were to no avail as the party’s National Publicity Secretary, Mr. Lai Mohammed confirmed the dissolution and suspension of congresses in the state to allow Senator Udoedehe take over the party. That, in a nutshell was how Udoedehe with superior political fire power outwitted all that were in the party and took over the party structure. So why do some people actually think that any other politician with superior strategy cannot come to the party, contest and win the governorship primary? Why do they still duel on this attitude of entitlement mentality that every other arriving politician should defer to them?
In part two of this historical sojourn in time, I will explode the second prevalent lie of Senator Udoedehe, which tries to change the narrative of how he fell out with his benefactor, Chief Godswill Akpabio. We will establish that Udoedehe merely broke ranks with Akpabio for personal reasons and nothing more. The so called targeted killing of the Ibibio, is a political strategy that evolved with his ethnic-based governorship campaign to crave the support of the Ibibio.
