The opposition All Progressives Congress (APC) in Akwa Ibom State can still wrest power from the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in 2019, Senator John James Akpanudoedehe has said.
The former Minister of State for the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) under late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, assured APC supporters that there was still time for the party to put its house in order.
In a statement yesterday in Abuja, Akpanudoedehe said: ”There is time to put things right. If we put our party together, we have a strong chance to take Akwa Ibom State in 2019.”
To actualise the aspiration, the former minister warned that the party must first heal its self-inflicted injuries.
The former governorship candidate of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) in the 2011 general election also expressed worry that the APC was not playing its role as an opposition party in Akwa Ibom State because of what he called its compromised leadership.
He said: “Our party made mistakes in the processes leading to the 2015 governorship election in the state. Rather than face this reality with a view to righting the wrongs, they are trying to prove that they are right. A group of people, led by Obong Umana Okon Umana, came into the APC in our state just before the primary election and boasted he had a N50 billion war chest to match the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) toe-to-toe.
“The national leadership of our party fell for their antics and overrode the voice of reason of core APC members and installed a new leadership. When the party lost at the polls, the new leaders pointed fingers at the others but failed to take responsibility for the failure. That has not fazed us. We love our party so much, to the point where we almost lost our lives protecting it.
“We are unrepentant about wanting to wrest power from the PDP. But we know that the current leadership of the party lacks the courage to play opposition because it wined and dined with Governor Godswill Akpabio for almost the entirety of his eight years in office.”
“Our silence so far is borne out of a deep sense of respect for our party to allow the President and to allow those leading the party in the state to prove their worth. Today, there is a vacuum in the state. The opposition in Akwa Ibom State is yearning for a voice. But the APC, under its current leadership, cannot do much because they were part and parcel of what took place under Akpabio.”
The former minister denied the reports that he recently called on Akwa Ibom residents to stop criticising Akpabio.
He said: “The remarks on Akpabio were made by my elder brother, Chief Godwin Akpan. But mischief makers within the party gave the impression that I made them. Everyone else in my family uses ‘Akpan’ as their surname.
“I officially swore to an affidavit to adopt ‘Akpanudoedehe’ as my surname when I ran for the state chairmanship of the defunct National Republican Convention (NRC) in 1992. That was before I became chairman of Uyo Local Government Area in 1996. Siblings are at liberty to hold different political views. That’s the case with Chief Godwin Akpan.
“When I contested the governorship in 2011 on the platform of ACN, he supported Obong Akpabio of the PDP and, in 2015, he was with Obong Umana Okon Umana. Godwin made those remarks that some people were desperately trying to pass off as mine. Anyone who knows how I opposed the maladministration under Akpabio, to the point that I nearly lost my life, would know I cannot solicit for him.”