This may be the end of the road for Mr Akpabio’s dream of returning to the Senate in 2023.
The All Progressives Congress (APC) in Akwa Ibom State has insisted that the name of the embattled former minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Godswill Akpabio, will be published by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as the party’s candidate for the Akwa Ibom North-West District.
Iniobong John, chairman of the APC media committee in the state, made the party’s position known in a statement in Uyo on Saturday.
“There’s absolutely no cause for alarm, nothing to worry about. Reassured that Mr Akpabio will be elected senator for Ikot Ekpene (Akwa Ibom North-West) come 2023.”
Mr John’s response came hours after INEC released a statement explaining why the names of Mr Akpabio and Senate President Ahmad Lawan were missing from the list of candidates for the 2023 elections, published by INEC in June.
A retired deputy inspector general of police, Udom Ekpoudom, and Bashir Machina emerged as APC candidates for Akwa Ibom North-West and Yobe North respectively during the senatorial primary monitored by INEC. But the APC, instead, submitted Messrs Akpabio and Lawan’s names to the commission.
INEC, in a statement by its spokesperson, Festus Okoye, said “the Commission is funtus officio in the two cases,” and thereby urged “aggrieved parties” to approach the court for redress.
Train has since left station
Mr Akpabio stepped down at the last minute for former Lagos State Governor Bola Tinubu at the APC presidential primary held in Abuja, on June 8.
Less than 24 hours after, Mr Akpabio claimed he “won” the primary for Akwa Ibom North-West conducted by a faction of APC in the state.
But INEC in Akwa Ibom State said it did not recognise the primary that produced Mr Akpabio.
The Akwa Ibom State Resident Electoral Commissioner, Mike Igini, told Nigerians in a television interview last week that the train had since left the station, in Mr Akpabio’s case. Meaning that the electoral process had moved on, while the former minister is left behind.
Mr Igini said the commission recognises Mr Ekpoudom, and not Mr Akpabio, as theAPC candidate.
Mr Okoye in a statement on Saturday said the commission stands by reports forwarded to it by state offices regarding candidates of political parties.
This may be the end of the road for Mr Akpabio’s dream of returning to the Senate in 2023 unless the former minister challenges and defeats INEC in court.
The APC in the state has been torn into two factions because of the protracted battle between Mr Akpabio and the former national secretary of the party, John Akpanudoedehe, over the control of the party’s structure in the state.
Mr Akpanudoedehe later defected to the New Nigeria Peoples Party and secured the party’s governorship ticket after he was outmanoeuvred in the governorship primary by Mr Akpabio’s faction.
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