By Ubong David
I have read so much about Sen. Godswill Akpabio's secret visit to APC National Leader, Ahmed Bola Tinubu. I don't know how secret was the visit and if it happened between 12 midnight and early hours when majority are on bed. Let me quickly say few things here.
Firstly, I am finding myself in the political space because of two men I passionately fell in love at the time - Obong Umana Okon Umana and Sen. Godswill Obot Akpabio. It was the door that Obong Umana opened for me in 2011 that I became active on the political space. I was accessible to Obong Umana who was then the Secretary to the State Government while I didn't bother about Akpabio then because he was a governor and my pride do not condone much questioning by Security because if you ask me questions beyond what is tenable, I quickly reacted. That is the reason I always have issue with security personnel.
A typical example was on Friday at the entrance to the governor's wife office with DSS operatives. So I always avoided them. If I needed to see Akpabio then, I would've done that through Obong Umana who was SSG and a powerful figure in Government House but that wasn't my mission to run a Fan base for Akpabio. Till date, those two leaders remain my political fathers and I appreciate them. I am still looking forward the day two of them will reconcile their differences to prove to us their followers their statesmanship disposition. They have to because the disenchantment and bigotry in Akwa Ibom State today is because of Obong Umana Okon Umana and Sen. Godswill Obot Akpabio. Quote me verbatim.
I know Sen. Akpabio is a leader of the opposition in the Senate and at the same time a political strategist. I recalled when he visited Bola Tinubu that early period after the 2015 general election when Tinubu came back from medical trip in the US and it was in the day time. Today, the Peoples Democratic Party is the opposition Party in Nigeria and Sen. Akpabio is one of the voices of opposition in the country and owe PDP a mandate to justify the confidence that the party bestowed on him by voting him as the leader of PDP Caucus at the National Assembly. If the PDP has resolved as was published in their Press Statement not to give their full support to the APC led administration because they are 'belligerent' then no need for any person or groups of persons to fraternize with the same people who do not want to see you survive politically. If Sen. Akpabio has clandestinely visited Bola Tinubu as insinuated in some quarters for whatever reason especially on the assumption that he want to join APC to evade arrest by EFCC, I therefore will submit that he is a traitor and shouldn't be trusted. Again, he should be stripped off the Minority Leadership of the Senate. If you are a leader, you should be ready to die for a cause. In The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership, the Law of Buy-In stated that "People don't at first follow worthy causes. They follow worthy leaders who promote causes they can believe in."
Sen Godswill Obot Akpabio is a political leader and his followers cut across party lines. But that should not make him a useful tool in the hand of the ruling APC. He has a cause to lead the millions of PDP members across the country. Leadership is all about influence and it need courage to withstand any circumstances.
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| Sen. Godswill Akpabio at PDP National Convention in Port Harcourt |
In mid 1940, the leadership of England fell on 65 year old Winston Churchill, a courageous leader. When German leader Hitler threatened England, Winston defied him and accepted nothing but victory. He rallied the British people and addressed them. It began with his first speech after becoming prime minister:
"We have before us an ordeal of the most grievious kind. We have before us many, many long months of struggle and of suffering. You ask, what is our policy? I can say: It is to wage war, by sea, land and air with all our might and with all the strength that God can give us; to wage war against a monstrous tyranny, never surpassed in the dark, lamentable catalogue of human crime. That is our policy. You ask, what is our aim? I can answer in one word: Victory - victory at all costs, victory in spite of all terror, victory, however long and hard the road may be; for without victory, there is no survival."
Meanwhile, Churchill did everything in his power to prevail. He sought the help of American leader, Franklin Roosevelt and they won. When the pressure is on, great leaders are at their best. Whatever is inside of them comes to the surface. I do not believe that the Godswill Akpabio that I know can decamp to APC. To me it is mere insinuation but the departure of Obong Umana taught me a lesson which I argued strongly that he can never be but I was proved wrong. I made a post that it was through Obong Umana that I enter the political space and if he leave the party he joined to build that I will never follow him to APC no matter the hand of friendship he extended to me. Yes, I can beat my chest that I didn't eat my words. If Akpabio for whatever political alignment and realignment join APC tomorrow, I, Ubong David will NEVER follow him or any other person for that matter to APC. The two leaders enticed me to the political space but I have my own decision. My words is my bond and I will remain in PDP until the day it is finally buried in the ground. After all, man has been in existence before politics and man will still exist after politics. Happy Sunday.
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