Akwa Ibom crisis: Why I parted ways with Akpanudoedehe – Akpabio
BY DANIEL IDONOR
ABUJA – GOVERNOR Godswill Akpabio of Akwa Ibom State has alleged that he parted ways with embattled former minister of state for the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, and gubernatorial candidate of Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN, Chief James Akpanudoedehe, because he refused to use state funds for private projects.
Another reason, according to the governor why their once robust relationship has gone sour was his refusal to allow a local Government Chairman to name a road that transverse two local government areas after Akpanudoedehe without the prior knowledge of the state government.
He maintained that the loss of lives and wanton destruction of properties by the supporters of the ACN was not as a result of clash between Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, and ACN but criminal acts.
Fielding questions from State House Correspondents at the Presidential Villa in Abuja, a visibly rattled Akpabio, following the crises expressed displeasure that what happened was misrepresented by some media reports which attributed it to a clash between the two rival parties in the state.
“Few days ago, Akwa Ibom was attacked by miscreants and by hoodlums led by the ACN governorship candidate in the state, Akpanudoedehe. It was reported that it was a clash between PDP and ACN, actually it was not a clash between PDP and ACN. Even me as a governor, I have to divert my convoy anytime they are coming because of their unruly behaviour.
“The reality is that this kind of action portends danger and the media is reporting it as if it was a clash between ACN and PDP. When you have a political party that knows it is losing, it carries out all sorts of criminality and we must have the courage to condemn it irrespective of the political leaning we belong to and the kind media we represent. We must condemn it because criminality can happen in any form and anywhere”, the Governor said.
Akpabio however, lauded what he described as prompt intervention of President Goodluck Jonathan and security agencies, adding that it was the insistence that PDP members should not fight back that saved the situation from degenerating to a bloody clash.
The Governor accused the gubernatorial candidate of ACN in the state who is currently standing trial for treason in Abuja, Akpanudoedhe of superintending over the destruction of state
properties by his party men, saying “I want to disabuse our minds that it was a clash between PDP and ACN”.
According to him, “this for me is a signal to the nation to note that human being can go to the extent of destroying lives of innocent people and property in this kind of proportion, this is more than arson, it is treasonable as far as I am concerned because it amounts to an attempt to take over government by force. I understand that the hoodlums had met in the house of the ACN governor candidate and from there they now move and I understand that he superintended over the destruction.
