Akpabio Backs Jonathan for 2015

The Akwa Ibom State Governor, Godswill Akpabio, on Tuesday pledged his support for President Goodluck Jonathan’s 2015 re-election bid and called on the President to declare his intention to run without further delay.

With the call, Akpabio, regarded in party circles as one of the President’s die hard supporters, appeared to have belled the cat on Jonathan’s re-election bid.

Akpabio’s call is coming on the heels of a resolve by the National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji Adamu Mu’azu, to poach prominent members of the All Progressive Congress (APC) to counter the gale of defections from the ruling party to the opposition.

The Akwa Ibom governor promised to deliver to the President all the delegate votes from his state, just like he did during the party’s 2011 presidential nominations.

“We did it in 2011 and I assure Mr. President that Akwa Ibom will do it again. We were the first set in 2010 to announce our support for him to go for his first tenure in 2011.

“We did that and other states followed. We are again the first state in 2014 to urge Mr. President to go back for a second term in office.

“We are a monolithic group in Akwa Ibom, although you may have one or two people who want to test the political waters here and there,” he added.

Although the President has yet to openly declare his interest in the race, his body language over time, has continued to reinforce the general belief and suspicion among party chieftains that he might be scheming for the 2015 presidential ticket of his party.

The sustained scheming by the President’s close aides and loyalists for the party’s ticket ahead of the 2015 poll was one of the factors that sparked the lingering crisis in the ruling party.

The crisis has led to a gale of defections, with five serving governors and a number of federal legislators elected on the platform of the PDP crossing to the APC last November.

The five Governors are – Rotimi Amaechi (Rivers); Rabiu Kwankwaso (Kano); Aliyu Wamakko (Sokoto); Murtala Nyako (Adamawa); and Abdulfatah Ahmed (Kwara).

37 PDP members in the House of Representatives had, in late December, also defected to the APC.

No fewer than 17 serving senators of the ruling party are also waiting to join the defection train