A former governor of Akwa Ibom
State, Godswill Akpabio, has emerged as the Senate President of the 10th
Assembly.
Akpabio, who is the preferred
candidate of the party, was paired with the senator representing Kano South,
Jibrin Barau.
Akpabio was sworn in as the
Senate President after garnering 63 votes, leaving his rival, Yari Abdulaziz,
to 46 votes.
BACKGROUND
Nigeria’s new Senate President,
Godswill Akpabio, is one of the few lucky Nigerians born with a silver spoon,
noting that he has family members who have been in governance and at the helm
of affairs for a long time.
Akpabio is perceived to be from a
strong political dynasty; his grandfather, Okuku Udo Akpabio, was the Warrant
Chief in Ikot Ekpene province in the old Nigeria, while his uncle, Dr. Ibanga
Akpabio, was the Minister of Education/Internal Affairs in the then Eastern
Nigeria. His cousin, Justice Nsima Akpabio, was also a senator in the Second
Nigerian Republic.
Political journey from the
classroom
If you called Akpabio an
ajebutter (elite), you would not be far from the truth. Akpabio has, from a
young age, started his leadership journey as he has occupied one significant
office or another.
Akpabio began his educational
journey at the Methodist Primary School, Ukana, Essien Udim Local Government
Area, Akwa Ibom State; the Federal Government College, Port Harcourt, Rivers
State, where he was a senior prefect; and completed his secondary school
education.
His leadership journey continued
even after secondary school, as he was elected Speaker of a Parliamentary Year
during his sojourn as a student at the University of Calabar, Cross River
State, where he obtained his law degree.
Professional background: Teacher
to Managing Director
Having obtained his Bachelor’s
degree in Law, Akpabio had a short stint as a teacher before he moved on to
work as an associate with Paul Usoro and Co., a law firm in Nigeria.
From there, he served in the
telecommunications industry with EMIS Telecoms Limited, a wireless
telecommunications company in Lagos, Nigeria, and in 2002, he rose to the
position of Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of the company.
Akpabio also served at the
national level as the National Publicity Secretary of the Association of
Telecommunication Companies in Nigeria.
An ambitious politician
While serving as the MD of EMIS
Telecoms, Akpabio, in 2002, he was appointed as the Commissioner for Petroleum
and Natural Resources by the then Governor Obong Victor Attah in Akwa Ibom State.
Between 2002 and 2006, he served as a commissioner in three key ministries:
Petroleum and Natural Resources, Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, as
well as Lands and Housing.
Following his stint as
commissioner, Akpabio threw his hat into the ring for the Akwa Ibom
governorship election, where he battled with 57 others to clinch the ticket of
his then party, the Peoples Democratic Party.
Launched with the slogan, “Thy
will be done,” Akpabio won the governorship election in 2006 and got re-elected
as the number one citizen of Akwa Ibom for the second time in 2011.
In 2013, Akpabio was elected
chairman of the newly formed PDP Governors Forum.
Akpabio’s voyage into the
Parliament
In 2015, he contested and won the
Senate seat of the Akwa Ibom North-West Senatorial District to represent the
district in the Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria
Running under the platform of the
PDP, he polled 422,009 of the 439,449 votes to defeat Chief Inibehe Okorie of
the APC, who recorded 15,152 votes to be declared elected by the Independent
National Electoral Commission.
Akpabio, in 2015, as a first
timer against Senate rule, was made a principal officer as the Senate Minority
Leader.
In August 2018, he resigned as
the Senate Minority Leader after announcing his defection to the All
Progressives Congress.
From legislature back to the
Executive
In July 2019, he was nominated by
the former President, Muhammadu Buhari, and screened by the Nigerian Senate for
a ministerial appointment. On August 21, 2019, he was sworn in as Minister for
Niger Delta Affairs.
In June 2022, Akpabio’s ambition
went even higher when he resigned his appointment as the minister for Niger
Delta Affairs to contest in the presidential primaries of the ruling All
Progressives Congress but stepped down on the night of the primaries for the
president, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu.
Cross-carpeting back to
legislature
Having stepped down for the
President, Akpabio, against all odds, clinched his senatorial ticket through a
court order from a retired Deputy Inspector General of Police, Mr. Udom
Ekpoudom.
Having secured the ticket,
Akpabio began the tussle for the Senate Presidency and eventually got anointed
as the party’s choice.
The name Akpabio would ring a
bell among Nigerians with notable scandals.
Godswill Akpabio was under
investigation by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission on accusations
that he diverted over N100 billion from Akwa Ibom State during his time as
governor (2007-2015) with American diplomats calling the level of corruption
“exceptional” during his tenure. However, no charges have been filed.
A lawyer, Leo Ekpenyong, who also
accused Akpabio of corruption, was later arraigned by the police in court for
defamation.
Also in April 2023, the Economic
and Financial Crimes Commission, through a letter, asked the former minister of
Niger Delta Affairs to report to its headquarters in Abuja for interrogation
over a corruption investigation against him.
Akpabio, however, through his
lawyer, Umeh Kalu, SAN, said in a letter to the commission dated March 27 that
his client would not be able to honour the invitation due to a scheduled
medical appointment overseas.
Akpabio then vanished into thin
air, only to return to the country some days after the president came into the
country to continue his race for the Senate Presidency.
Other corruption cases in NDDC
The notable corruption cases in
NDDC during Akpabio’s first year as minister include the admission by the
acting managing director of the commission, Kemebradikumo Pondei, that the
commission spent N1.5 billion for its staff as ‘COVID-19 relief funds’.
Also, the Senate said top
management of the NDDC paid themselves N85.6 million to attend a graduation
ceremony in the United Kingdom at a time when Nigeria was on lockdown and
airports were shut because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Senate also said NDDC
officials paid themselves scholarship grants at a time when hundreds of
deserving scholarship beneficiaries had not been paid for years and were
stranded in different countries.
Two directors in the NDDC were
arrested and detained in August by the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other
Related Offences Commission over corruption allegations, while a former
managing director of the NDDC forfeited N250 million to the Federal Government
a few days ago.
Akpabio was also accused of
inserting N500 million worth of projects into the 2017 budget of the NDDC when
he was the Senate minority leader.
Sexual Harassment scandal
Also, a former acting managing
director of NDDC, Joy Nunieh, said Mr. Akpabio had wanted her to take an oath,
which would have restrained her from exposing fraud at the commission.
She once said, “For instance, he
told me to raise a memo to fraudulently award emergency contracts for flood
victims in the Niger Delta.”
Nunieh also said she once slapped
the minister at his guest house in Abuja for sexually assaulting her. Akpabio
in turn denied her allegations and sued her for defamation
Off your Mic scuttle with
N’Assembly
In May 2020, Akpabio was summoned
by members of the House of Representatives over the misappropriation of N40
billion.
During his time as the Minister
of Niger Delta Affairs, he was involved in a scuffle with lawmakers during a
National Assembly investigative hearing.
When questioned, the former
Akwa-Ibom governor told the panel that National Assembly members were involved
in contract-awards in the tainted Niger Delta Development Commission, and the
chairman of the panel, Thomas Ereyitomi, immediately told the minister to put
off his microphone.
Ereyitomi, “Honourable minister,
it’s okay, it’s okay. Off your mic!”
Akpabio, who was upset after the
public hearing, went ahead to name lawmakers who got contracts from NDDC.
His testimony against the
lawmakers have continued to haunt him amongst his colleagues who haven’t
forgiven him for exposing their ‘ dirty deals.’
Subsequently, Akpabio rejected
summons by the National Assembly, which made the lawmakers conclude that he had
no regard for the parliament and was arrogant.
Akpabio’s personae
One of the things that endears
people to Akpabio is his constant smile. You’d hardly catch him frowning, no
matter what was going wrong.
The former governor is also known
for his oratory prowess, intelligence and poise.
He is always displaying
confidence and great self esteem.
He is married to Ekaette Akpabio,
the founder of the Family Life Enhancement Initiative, a non-governmental
organisation providing a platform for redirecting the focus of development
efforts on the family as a strategy for achieving the Millennium Development
Goals.
They both have four daughters
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