Jude Egbas |


Akpabio will be the APC's biggest
summer signing this transfer
window. But like every other
politician out there, he comes
badly flawed.

Senator Godswill Akpabio will join
the governing APC this week, his
‘sins’ will be forgiven and he’ll be
tasked with making the APC
stronger in the senate.


Politics is really insane, come to
think of it. One day, you are
insulting one party and all its
members, the next day, you are in
bed with the same party and its
members.


I have been chatting with a few
stalwarts and chieftains of the APC
since the news of Akpabio’s
defection broke last Friday, » and
they are pretty excited about the
move. They tell me of how
formidable Akpabio is in the South
South geopolitical region, how he’s
respected among his peers in the
senate, how his larger than life
persona continues to suffuse Akwa
Ibom—and how he is just the right
man to give Senate President
Bukola Saraki and his clique a run
for their money in the senate.


You know what? These APC chaps
are right on several scores.
Akpabio’s defection is the
equivalent of a big money,
marquee signing in football. He
comes with loads of experience,
he is the senate minority leader,
when he coughs, Akwa Ibom and
most of the South South sneezes
and Akwa Ibom will jump from a
24-storey building if Akpabio barks
the instruction—no questions
asked.


Akpabio will be bringing that
street smart intelligence, a
roughshod disposition and
grassroot appeal to the South
South zone of the APC. He is also a
money bag, warts and all.
He’s got bags of corruption
allegations dangling round his
neck from his days as governor,
but if you go to Uyo Township
today, you’d have no qualms
settling for Akpabio as the best
governor that State has ever
produced. Akpabio is perhaps the
one governor from an oil rich State
who deployed derivation from oil
revenues to erect landmark
infrastructure in a bid to open up
his State for business and
commerce.



But Akpabio is not the cleanest
politician in the land by a long
shot. The Economic and Financial
Crimes Commission (EFCC) is still
investigating the senator for
allegedly looting the sum of
N108.1 billion while he was
governor of Akwa Ibom.
Akpabio has also been accused of
acquiring choice property across
the country, namely: Plot 5
Okogosi Spring Close, off Katsina-
Ala Crescent, Maitama-Abuja; a
multi-billion naira mansionette at
Plot 28 Colorado Close, Maitama,
Abuja and another multi-billion
naira mansion at 22 Probyn Road,
Ikoyi, Lagos.


At about 5:20pm of October 16,
2015, the EFCC arrested Akpabio
over the alleged N108.1 billion
theft.


In September of 2017, the EFCC
revealed that it was investigating
Akpabio over a N1.4billion gift to a
bank. »



An EFCC detective was quoted as
saying at the time: “Among several
allegations that are already in the
public domain, the commission has
made some progress in
investigating the circumstances in
which Apkabio, in 2013, paid N566,
883,728.66; N441,808,081.90; and
N392, 631,943.37 as gifts to a new
generation bank.”




In Akpabio, the APC is acquiring a
hands on, pragmatic political
player who is as tainted as they
come. But when has that ever
mattered when political parties
open their arms to welcome
defectors?





If anything, Akpabio’s
defection tells us that the lines
between the PDP and APC are now
non-existent. He is yet one more
example of the ideology and value
deficit in our nation’s politics. He is
badly damaged goods but also a
political ‘animal’ who gives as
good as he gets and who spares no
expenses when handed a task.



EXPECTATIONS


Akpabio’s first job, from what I
have been told, » will be to poach
as many PDP senators as possible
to the APC and then begin to
assemble the two-thirds majority
senators who will impeach Saraki
as senate president.

The APC is
recruiting Akpabio as the final
piece in the jigsaw to unseat
Saraki who left the APC » with
some 15 senators.
Akpabio is also leaving the PDP
because he has lost out in the
power stakes to his successor » ,
Governor Udom Emmanuel who
has seized the PDP structure in his
home State. His switch to the APC
is happening because he can't wait
to go to-to-toe with Emmanuel, a
governor he handpicked to
succeed him and who he now
considers an ingrate.



In the final analysis, Akpabio could
be a shrewd summer signing for
the APC. »




What we should all
learn from this transfer is that the
APC’s claim to integrity and change
are but mere buzzwords tailored
to hoodwink an unsuspecting
public.

The politicians switching
camps aren’t doing so for love of
country » or because they are
determined to fix a badly damaged
country.



https://opera.pulse.ng/news/politics/in-akpabio-apc-is-signing-a-formidable-and-tainted-politician-id8693942.html