A lawyer who served as a commissioner in Akwa Ibom State under the then governor, Godswill Akpabio, has painted a picture of Mr Akpabio as a leader who seeks to bring down his own allies in order to gain dominance in politics.
Mr Akpabio was the governor of Akwa Ibom State from 2007 to 2015. He was succeeded by Governor Udom Emmanuel whose administration will end in the next four months.
In an exclusive interview with PREMIUM TIMES last week, Emmanuel Enoidem, the former commissioner, said Mr Akpabio would stop at nothing to ensure that his political associates do not make progress in politics, whether at the state or national level.
“Because Akpabio doesn’t want strong people, when he wanted to leave the government, before he handed over, he said that those of us who were in his (Akpabio’s) government should not last more than one year in Udom Emmanuel’s government,” Mr Enoidem said in the interview which gives a rare insight into the power politics in Akwa Ibom State during the Akpabio era.
Mr Enoidem was the commissioner for Housing & Urban Renewal from 2013 to 2014 under Mr Akpabio. Mr Akpabio later moved him to serve as commissioner for Special Duties from 2013 to 2015.
As a member of Mr Akpabio’s kitchen cabinet, he was one of the most powerful commissioners at that time.
He told PREMIUM TIMES that besides supporting Mr Akpabio to become governor, he bought the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) nomination form for Mr Akpabio to go to the Senate in 2015.
Before his appointment as a commissioner, Mr Enoidem was the PDP treasurer in Akwa Ibom from 2001 to 2007.
He later served in Governor Emmanuel’s administration as commissioner for Investment, Commerce and Industry from 2015 to 2016.
‘Akpabio conspiracy’
Mr Enoidem said when Governor Emmanuel refused to give in to Mr Akpabio’s pressure to drop him and others from his cabinet, the former governor devised another means by pretending he wanted him to become the PDP national legal adviser.
He said it was the same Mr Akpabio who mobilised the South-south regional bloc against him when he resigned as commissioner to contest for the position of the party legal adviser.
“Akpabio went and conspired with (a House of Reps member) Emmanuel Ekon that the APC has a senior advocate of Nigeria (SAN) as their legal adviser, how can they bring Enoidem that is not a SAN, what if there is a case between PDP and APC? They took the story to (Governor) Wike (of Rivers State), but Udom Emmanuel said no, that that is his choice and that there is no provision in the PDP constitution that you must be a SAN before you become the party’s legal adviser.
