2015: Patience Jonathan shouts down Akpabio

 

...Alleged to have said pursue your Vice Presidential Ambition
...Stop deceiving my husband

The crisis rocking the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) as a result of President Goodluck Jonathan’s second term ambition may have claimed another casualty. The latest according to our source is the Akwa Ibom State Governor and the chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party Governor’s Forum, Chief Godswill Akpabio.

Inside sources within the nation’s seat of power informed our reporter that Nigeria’s first lady and wife of the President, Dame Patience Jonathan descended ferociously on Akpabio at the Presidential Villa in Abuja recently accusing him of being a cog in the wheel of the process to resolve the crisis in the PDP. 

According to the source, a visibly angry Patience Jonathan shouted at the Governor and asked him why he was busy deceiving her husband.

She is said to have told Governor Akpabio point blank that he should stop masquerading himself before her husband as a peacemaker and concentrate on his now revealed Vice Presidential ambition and leave the President alone.
Reports reaching the First Lady, the source continued, have confirmed that Governor Akpabio’s treachery and pursuit of his Vice Presidential ambition is responsible for the failure of the reconciliation process in the party and one of the reasons the G7 Governors have ditched the party. 

The report further revealed that the First Lady accused the Governor of being on a mission to destroy the President. She is said to have cited Akpabio’s recent spate of private visits to leading traditional rulers and politicians in the North and other parts of Nigeria.

Speaking further another source from the Presidency maintained that the First Lady is at a loss as to why the Akwa Ibom State Governor has been throwing money wherever he goes at the expense of the Akwa Ibom people who elected him.

The President’s wife is said to have told the Governor that she was aware that Akpabio is working for his own ambition while pretending to be working for the re-election of the President. The source who spoke on strict confidentiality said that a visibly embarrassed Akpabio was dumbfounded and broke down in tears. 

Reacting to the development, a top politician from Akwa Ibom State who resides in Abuja expressed worry over the incident and blamed Akpabio for abandoning his mandate of working for Akwa Ibom people for Abuja politics. He said “Governor Akpabio started out well in his first term, I don’t know who advised him to dabble into Abuja politics, for what I know, Abuja politics is consuming no matter how good your intentions are. This should serve as a warning to him to stick his arse in Uyo and continue his uncommon transformation.”

Confirming the incident, a source who is believed to be close to Professor King, one of President Jonathan’s allies, told our reporter that the wife of the President had actually expressed her displeasure at what she described as Governor Akpabio’s deceitful posturing in the crisis rocking the PDP. Though he refused to comment further, he however promised to elaborate on the matter during his visit to attend the official opening ceremony of Professor Richard King’s Campaign Office in Uyo last weekend. Efforts to get across to him during the event proved abortive. 

It could be recalled that the press was recently awash with reports that Governor Akpabio’s express pass into the Presidential Villa had been withdrawn on the orders of the President following reports that he was always throwing dollars around whenever he visits the Villa. According to the reports, the alleged action of Akpabio was seen by top Aso Villa players as not only over ambitious but also capable of undermining Presidential Security and Protocol. State Commissioner for Information, Aniekan Umanah could not be reached for comments on the alleged embarrasment of the governor by the President’s wife. His numbers were unavailable as at press time.

However, political watchers are of the opinion that with recent happenings, 2015 may not be as easy as Akpabio thinks.