*Dangles SSG Position on Bassey Albert
Governor Godswill Akpabio has again dipped deep into his bag of tricks and shenanigans, overruling his executive council barely 24 hours after he had made them sign an unprecedented endorsement document on who should be governor in 2015. On Tuesday, February 25, 2014, Akpabio called another meeting of his Executive council, where he informed them that the three candidates they had endorsed were too many.
He said it was important to further narrow the choice to two candidates to make room for a better choice and a more effective coordination. He told them that Effiong Abia should be delisted leaving the battle for Udom Emmanuel and Ekpenyong Ntekim. As would be expected, there was no challenge to the governor’s decision, though coming just a day after he had led the exco members to select the trio of Udom, Abia and Ntekim.
Our source, a commissioner who attended the meeting said the entire proceeding was dominated by the governor, who continuously boasted that no power anywhere in the world can stop him from having his way as far as the 2015 governorship election was concerned. He said that he had the magic wand to buy over supporters of other aspirants not favoured by the Exco arrangement. He told them that even if it means using the state’s six months allocation to achieve his purpose, he was willing and committed to doing it. He said he has so far commenced the process of buying other aspirants’ supporters with the number of PRADO Jeeps already distributed, adding that more jeeps and millions of naira would be dangled before some of the aggrieved party members.
“His Excellency boasted that with the amount of inroad he has made in Abuja; that not even the national chairman nor the president of the country could stop his choice and urged us not to entertain any fear of defeat”, the commissioner said.
He was said to have pressured his Finance commissioner to drop his governorship ambition and support the preferred candidates. He was promised the office of SSG after the election. This was as a result of the commissioner’s refusal to sign the Monday night endorsement document in a meeting coordinated by Mr. Don Etim, regarded as the “Dean of Commissioner”.
This will be a major blow to supporters of Barr Effiong Abia, who had been upbeat since the signing of the endorsement document that included his name. His upcoming thanksgiving service in Oron next week has received a wide boost following the said endorsement. But one of the supporters of the Mbo-born politician insists that whatever the governor or any person is doing cannot change what God has already kept for Abia.
The elimination of Abia from the list is a surprise move by Akpabio, prompting many to assume that the governor has not still made his final moves. One Edet Amba, who spoke to Weekend Insight, insists that Abia remained the governor’s choice, adding that all the necessary assurances have been extricated from the governor.
The Potters News 
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