Will Akpabio Bite The Bullet?

By Emmanuel Aziken

Following the Court of Appeal judgment for a rerun of the election in Essein Udim Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State, eyes are now on Senator Godswill Akpabio, the All Progressives Congress, APC candidate in the Akwa Ibom Northwest Senate race.

Akpabio’s intentions have been complicated by the fact that he has taken up the position of minister and is presently deeply engaged in the ongoing plans of President Muhammadu Buhari to probe the finances of the Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC.

Were he to contest, he could be required to resign his position as minister to again enter the melee.

He is not the first to have faced such a situation.

Following the 2015 election Senator Chris Ngige was similarly involved in the three way faceoff with Senator Uche Ekwunife and Senator Victor Umeh.

He, however, chose to retain his ministerial position in the rerun election that was ordered by the court leading to the emergence of Umeh as senator.

Senator Akpabio is now faced with a similar situation. Should he decide to contest the election he is faced with the prospect of losing his comfortable ministerial seat.

Even more, the odds for him in Essien Udim his base also look formidable.

Though the Local Government Area has more than 105,000 registered voters, only an estimated 19,455 voters came out for the Senate election as evidenced by the smart card reader.

Given his deficit in the other nine Local Government Area that is estimated at more than 30,000 votes, Akpbabio has his job cut out for him to fetch as much votes to erase the deficit for him to stand the chance of being declared the winner of the Senate seat.

Sources in the Akpabio camp claim that the minister could hold on to his seat and still contest, but that would bring legal issues.

Willy-nilly, Akpabio is expected to digest the clear pronouncement of the court any moment from Tuesday to decipher his next intention. The court decision was given by the Court of Appeal in Calabar last Wednesday.

Already, the PDP and his rival, Senator Chris Ekpeyong have teased him to resign and jump into the ring for the rerun.

Whatever, many eyes are watching the man who came to national acclaim as the uncommon transformer to see whether he will bite the bullet.

Whatever decision he takes, many in the state including those with a rabid determination to see Akpabio’s political end will be watching how he responds to the teasing from the PDP. Even within the APC those who want to upstage him would also be interested in his decision.

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