Wednesday 31 October 2012

Akwa Ibom deputy governor quits


EMMA UNA/Calabar
Mr Nsima Ekere, the Akwa Ibom State Deputy Governor resigned from his post on Wednesday afternoon following political intrigues and frosty relationship with his principal, Chief Godswill Akpabio, the governor.
Mr Idongesit Nna, the Press Secretary to the Deputy Governor in a press statement this afternoon said Mr Ekere resigned from his post at about 3 p.m.
The press statement cited “personal reasons” for the action of the deputy governor but reliable sources in Uyo, the Akwa Ibom State capital, southsouth Nigeria, confirmed to P.M.NEWS that Mr Ekere resigned to save his neck and political career which was about to be messed up as he was scheduled to be impeached on Thursday by the State House of Assembly.
“There are lots of political intrigues playing out here in Uyo especially with 2015 in view which Mr Ekere who is from Eket Zone, the zone scheduled to produce the next governor is interested in,” a source close to government in Uyo told P.M.NEWS.
Akpabio, our source said, is not keen on handing over to Ekere whom he sees as too bright and over ambitious. Instead, he prefers to handover to either the Commissioner for Finance, Mr Albert Akpan who is from the same Eket zone or the Secretary to Government, Umanah Umanah.
The planned impeachment was meant to blight the chances of Nsima from seeking political office in the state.
Ekere who contested the governorship primaries in 2007 with Akpabio came on board in Febrauary 2011 during Akpabio’s second tenure after Joseph Ekpo Otu, who served as Akpabio’s deputy during his first term, was shoved aside following irreconcilable political differences with Akpabio.
Though Ekpo was not removed the way Ekere is being shoved aside in less than two years, he was seldom assigned any responsibility while he stayed in office.
It was in the dying days of the first tenure that Ekere was brought in to contest along side Akpabio as the running mate.
The telephone lines of Ekere were switched off as well as those of Idongesit Nna, his press secretary. There is still no word yet from the Akpabio on the resignation of his deputy as well as from the House of Assembly.
PMNews

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