Loading ...Godswill Akpabio, a senator Akwa Ibom North-West District has accused the All Progressives Congress (APC) National Leader, Bola Tinubu and Minister of Transport, Rotimi Amaechi for his failed bid to return to the Senate for a second term, saying “God will shame them ultimately.”
Akpabio, who lost his reelection bid to Chris Ekpenyong was quoted by a very close source as saying that Amaechi particularly worked against his reelection so as to maintain his leadership of the APC in the South South.
The former Akwa Ibom State governor, who was PDP Leader in the Senate before decamping to the APC had scored 83,158 votes, while Ekpenyong scored 118,215 votes.
The source, who preferred anonymity because of his closeness to the Senator said he accused Tinubu of deliberate refusal to use his influence in the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to ensure the removal of the State Resident Electoral Commissioner, Mike Igini.
Akpabio was said to have vowed to fight with his last blood to retain the senatorial seat to shame Amaechi, whom he said never liked his defection to the APC.
The source said he charged some of his core loyalists in a meeting on Friday, that they should all rise and fight to regain his political pride.
“Oga is bittered, he is very angry. But he does not want to spill the beans yet, so as not to jeopardize whatever assistance that can be rendered on the Saturday governorship and House of Assembly elections. If not for the elections, which he is still hoping that federal might will be deployed to impose APC, he (Akpabio) would have started speaking against Tinubu and Amaechi,” the source said.
Speaking further, the source quoted Senator Akpabio as saying; “In 2015, it was Amaechi that singlehandedly nominated the Ministers from South South States except Edo and Bayelsa. He also got his loyalists appointed into the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) and Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA).
“Amaechi was even the one who got Nsima Ekere appointed as Managing Director of NDDC and when he resigned to contest the governorship of Akwa Ibom under APC, it was Amaechi who singlehandedly appointed his replacement.
“It is his (Amaechi) calculation that my return to Senate will place me in a vantage position to be the Senate President and that will automatically take the party leadership in the South South from him.
“In the case of Asiwaju Tinubu, he wants his wife as Deputy Senate President and that will only be possible if no one from the South emerges as the Senate President.
“As a two term governor with a lot of political influence, he (Tinubu) feared that if I’m reelected, it is as good as I’m the next Senate President and that he never wanted.
“Those are the reasons the duo of Amaechi and Tinubu worked against my reelection but I will shock them soon because we have not heard the last on the election.”
