By Chioma Onuegbu & Harris-Okon Emmanuel

Uyo—CRISIS looms in Akwa Ibom State chapter of All Progressives Congress, APC, following perceived moves by former Senate Minority Leader, Senator Godswill Akpabio, to defect from Peoples Democratic Party, PDP.

Akpabio

A group, Oro Reclamation Movement, ORM, in a statement by its President, Anietie Isong, yesterday, warned that any negotiation between APC and Akpabio without the interest of Oro nation put into consideration will be an exercise in futility.

In the statement, entitled APC 2019 Governorship: It’s Oro Nation or Nothing Else, the group reminded APC that the state was made up of a tripod, comprising the Ibibio, Annang and Oro ethnic groups.

It said the other two ethnic groups had occupied the position of the governor of the state except Oro, because Akpabio deprived them of the position when it was their turn in 2015.

“We insist that only the zoning of the governorship seat to Oro nation by APC will bring about true unity, peace and development of Akwa Ibom State as envisaged by its founding fathers,” the group added.

‘…he’s not coming to help APC’

Also, another pressure group within APC, Akwa Ibom Progressives Watch, AIPW, has written to the National Chairman, Mr. Adams Oshiomhole, warning of the threat that Akpabio poses to the party.

The group, in a letter captioned, Impending Dangers of Senator Godwills Akpabio Defection to APC, said the former governor should not be welcomed into the party, alleging that he was on a mission to destroy the party in the state to pave way for his political godson, Governor Udom Emmanuel to be re-elected in 2019.

The letter, by Innocent Sylvanus and Ubong Victor, Chairman and Secretary, respectively, said Akpabio has ulterior motives for decamping to the party and none includes helping APC win the next elections.

The group also alleged that the former Senate Minority Leader wants to use APC to advance his selfish and insatiable quest for power.

The group said: ‘’He wants to give our party a bad image in the eyes of the members of the public, who look up to APC as the only institution that will evict Akpabio from a position of authority and bring justice to those whose rights were unjustly stymied by the preponderance of his absolute powers.”