Chief of Staff to the former Governor of Akwa Ibom State Senator Godswill Akpabio, Etekamba Umoren has described him as a politician who can't be wished away in the state's politics, and indeed the South-South region.
Umoren, who also had previously served as SSG under Governor Udom Emmanuel, disclosed this and many facts about Akpabio in a recent interview with the @nationewspaper.
When asked to talk about the person of Senator Akpabio and his politics, Umoren didn't only expanciate on Akpabio's goodwill and kind gesture, but also revealed many things people may not have heard about him as well as his influence in politics both in Akwa Ibom State and Federal levels and how it seemed the political table has turned against him lately.
"Godswill Akpabio is a very forgiving fellow; a very humane man, a man who loves his people, a man who gets hurt because he sees a fellow human being suffering. He feels the pain. Sometimes I read about what people write about him and I ask myself is it the same Godswill Akpabio that I know? I think if they are all sincere with themselves, over 99.99 percent of the things people write against him are untrue. He is a human being too and you must leave out the 1% because he errs; he is not an angel. Most of the write-ups you see against Godswill Akpabio are politically motivated. The authors of the writers of the falsehood against Akpabio are paid to cook up those stories. My joy is that within themselves they know what they are writing is false. When a man is rising, some people think the best way is to put him down. The question is: after putting him down, what do you stand to gain? Will you take over his position? No, this is because it wasn’t meant for you. I think we need to be a lot more careful with the things we write and always remember that there is posterity and that there is a tomorrow."
"He left the state and went up to the national level. The politics we play in the state is not the same politics played at the national. You will agree with me that when you are out there, you see things differently. He went there and saw things differently and moved over," Umoren saide.
On the notion that Akpabio is a ruthless political who plays god, Umoren had this to say, "it is a pity that human beings have such short memory. It is also unfortunate that our level of ingratitude has risen so high.
Sometimes, I ask God to forgive us for our ingratitude. If God were to judge us from the angle of ingratitude towards Godswill Akpabio, some people will go to bed and not wake up. Now, to answer your question directly; I have known Godswill Akpabio for not less than 20 years. I knew him from when he was appointed commissioner. The Godswill Akpabio I know does not and has never played god.
Going further, Umoren also shed more light on Akpabio's movement from PDP to APC and real issues he had with some stakeholders in the state, contrary to what it is been dispensed to the general public.
"What is so special about his moving from PDP to APC that will warrant all manner of hatred and negative venting of venom? Why would a so-called man of God invoke curses on a man who has not done anything wrong to him?
What was he consulting for? Did he consult you when he made you smile and live big or made you go to school? Those that are asking about consultation, did he consult them when he was made them commissioners, speaker, special assistants, senior special assistant on technical matters or Deputy governor? Let’s not allow sentiments to cloud our sense of judgment.
Some years back when I was his Chief of Staff, we attended a burial in Uruan. He was the Governor then, and Reverend Uma Ukpai was preaching.
He said: “Akpabio, don’t be bothered about what people say or write as long as you are doing the right thing. Its only the mango tree that bears ripe fruit that receives the largest number of stones” if a mango tree doesn’t bear fruit, no child, even a mad man will not throw stones at him. There must be something very positive about Akpabio that some people are trying to dim. In a nutshell, what Rev Uma Ukpai said is what I stand for. If Akpadio went to the National assembly and was sleeping or unproductive, no one will say a thing. So the issue now is why him?
Why him? That is exactly the question one should ask as Akpabio’s era as governor has been linked to killings and kidnappings thereby portraying him as a violent person, according to the interviewer.
How many people did Akpabio kill or kidnap that will make you say Akpabio is a violent person? For the period I worked with him as permanent secretary and Chief of Staff, I was not aware of any killings or kidnappings. How much was the ransom people paid that had to do with Akpabio? During Godswill’s era, things happened but were they done by him? There are things happening now, is it all the fault of the President? Therefore, the killings have nothing to do with Akpabio. This is a case of calling a dog a bad name just because we want to hang it," Umoren responded.
Again, as highly placed as Akpabio in politics, why didn't he defect to APC with a larger part of his supporters?
"It is often said that he who pays the pipe calls the tune. In all honesty and all truth, those who sat back did so for personal reasons. Ask them to their faces if they really believed in their staying back.
Are they sincere to the system or is it what they can get from the system that is uppermost to them? About the elections, we all participated in the elections and saw what happened; it was INEC versus Akpabio, the state government and PDP versus APC. Don’t allow anyone to deceive you. Igini did a yeoman job. I am sure his conscience will tell him he didn’t do well. We have done elections in this state but I have never seen such level of manipulation. It was the worst election in this state. Using Ikot Ekpene as an example, there are 10 local government areas that make up the senatorial district and you use the card reader for just a local government leaving out nine. It was just a plot to make sure Akpabio lose the election. If he was a violent person, the very day the returning officer absconded instead of reading the result would have been the day the violence would have been seen, because there would have been spontaneous reaction," he stated.
But even with the present situation of things in Akwa Ibon politics, Umoren is of the strong opinion that Akpabio can't be written off politically and so confident that he is going to win at the tribunal.
"He can’t be written off politically. He has not lost the election. The tribunal has not said anything. The returning officer was not supposed to announce the result in Uyo, but at the senatorial district headquarters. Rather, after collation of result, he disappeared for five hours.
But in all and at the end everything, i am confident that Akpab will win," Umoren affirmed.
