Succession Crisis Rocks Akpabio’s Camp? I Have No Hand in Mike Sebastian’s Ambition – Sir Emem Akpabio

I Am Qualified To Join the Race - Mike Sebastian

  

Following rumours making the headlines that Governor Godswill Akpabio is preparing a certain Mike Sebastian from Ikot Abasi Local Government Area to take over from him come 2015; a senior member of the Great Akpabio family, Sir Emem Akpabio has broken the ice and dismissed the insinuation as a complete fluke.

Speaking with journalists in his Port Harcourt residence, Sir Akpabio said that he is unaware of the Governorship ambition of Mr Mike Sebastian. He noted that he has not been consulted or been told by the said Sebastian that he nurses such ambition.

“I am unaware of such an ambition. I read newspapers and follow stories on the social media but I have not stumbled on this one. I was surprised when you asked of my take on this aspiration. I have not been informed or consulted in anyway. To further insinuate that I have a hand in this ambition is a huge joke. We must note that the next Governor of Akwa Ibom State has a big task ahead of him. It requires someone who has the right connection, contacts, intellectual capacity and experience to move the state to an industrialized hub.

“The media should please help us in dismissing these distractive rumours capable of misleading the masses. You know we are in a critical political era, and these rumours are sponsored by aspirants from Uyo Senatorial District who are bent on imposing themselves on the people of Akwa Ibom State against the already established zoning arrangement.

Mike is my in-law and I don’t think he would nurse such a ‘’heavenly-laddered ambition without at least informing me. I  have better things to do with my money and I can’t fund  trash” , he concluded.

Recently, local newspapers and online blogs reported that Governor Akpabio is considering a Plan B in his succession plan and that he had asked Mr Mike Sebastian, a serving commissioner in the State’s Local Government Service Commission to vie for the exalted office. Mr Sebastian is also married to Uduak, a sister to one of the influential Akpabio family members, Sir Emem Akpabio. The reports further suggested that Mr Sebastian is being prepared to split votes in the Ikot Abasi/ Mkpat Enin axis where Obong Nsima Ekere and Chief Benjamin Okoko are said to hold sway at the moment.

A similar online blog reports that Mr Mike Sebastian was offered the whopping sum of One Hundred Million (100,000,000) Naira by one of the aspirants from Uyo Senatorial District to cause confusion in Akwa Ibom Consolidation Alliance (ACA) and in the Great  Akpabio family. The mission if well delivered will earn Mr Sebastian a deputy Governorship position in the said aspirant’s administration if he emerges governor in the 2015.  

Another version of the blogger’s story about the crisis in Akpabio’s succession plan alleges that Mike Sebastian was given N75m by the governor through Emem Akpabio who(Mike Sebastian) on August 19, 2014 declared his intention to run for the office of the governor.  The blogger’s claims were that Mr Udom Emmanuel was not ready to talk terms with Sir Emem Akpabio, believed to be “the godfather and leader of the boys” said to have  detailed “the boys” to withdraw their support for Mr Emmanuel for another aspirant yet to be named.

A text message was sent to Obong Bassey Albert by 3.58am and by 8.20am on Wednesday August 27 while in press no response was received from him as to his take on the matter. 

Meanwhile another twist to the story from an impeccable source from an LGA  Coordinator of ACA  has it that Mr Mike Sebastian, National Vice Chairman of ACA was said to be consulting for Governorship when he was in a group pursuing Udom Emmanuel’s interest, and when the BoT of ACA called him and queried he affirmed what was held as a figment of rumour to be true, asking whether he was not also qualified as Udom Emmanuel to contest for the office of the Governor.  Arising from what the source called brazen display of arrogance, Mike was dropped as the National Vice Chairman of ACA days ago.

While some political pundits were said to be wondering where Mr Mike Sebastian got the funds and the guts to start such wild consultations concluding that his force was from somewhere, others conclude that Obong Bassey Albert was secretly working for Umanah Okon Umanah, an allegation OBA  had denied during a recent media interaction with Journalists in the state capital.