2015: Akpabio leads PDP Governors in Rebellion against Jonathan

As the race for who gets what in 2015 begins to gather momentum, there are allegations that governors elected on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party(PDP) are blackmailing the president into allowing them to choose their successors in other to get their total support for his 2015 presidential ambition.
Although Jonathan has not yet declared his intention to run, it is an obvious secret to members of his party and indeed all perceptive Nigerians that the President is only bidding his time before declaring his intention.
Analysts also agree that for his ambition to come to pass, Jonathan needs the support of the 18 governors elected on the platform of the PDP for his ambition to come through and that at the moment none of the governors have any choice than to support the president’s ambition.

A report in The Monday April 21 edition of The Nation however hinted that governors of the party, led by Governor Godswill Akpabio of Akwa Ibom State are talking about protest votes within their state during the general elections unless the president allows them to decide who their successors would be. In addition to this, the governors are also said to insist that everyone of them with the ambition to be elected into the Senate in 2015b must be given automatic tickets while first term governors must also have automatic tickets.

The former two requests are in favour of Akpabio who is battling to impose a banker whom he brought into government as Secretary to the State Government (SSG) on the state in spite of the groundswell of opposition to his plan and his insistence on becoming a Senator against every sense of fairness. Constituents from his Senatorial District insist that it is the turn of the Abak people to present a Senator but all this has fallen on deaf ears.

However, these  requests completely contradict the stand of both the President and the Alhaji Adamu Muazu led national executive council of the party who have insisted that the party would not allow the imposition of candidates and that the people would be given the opportunity to decide on their representatives

It is as a way to circumvent the insistence of his people who have severally hailed the president and the national chairman of the party for standing on the side of the people that Akpabio is alleged to be leading this rebellion aimed at twisting the arm of the president into submission.

It therefore remains to be seen how the scenario will play out.

April 25, 2014