My Grouse With Aggrieved Governors – Akpabio

Akwa Ibom State Governor, Godswill Akpabio, on Monday maintained that disrespect for the office of the President of Nigeria is central to the crisis in the party.

Seven aggrieved Peoples Democratic Party governors had during the last mini convention of the party in Abuja stormed out of the venue to form the “New PDP.”
They had protested against alleged lack of internal democracy in the party and demanded for the sack of the party’s National Chairman, Bamanga Tukur, among other demands.Speaking with State House correspondents in Abuja on Monday, Akpabio said that governors can only get respect from people and institutions under them only when they respect people and institutions above them including the office of the President.
Asked when the problem and demands of the aggrieved governors would be finally addressed, he said, “Well, I’ve seen newspapers clips where they said the rebellious governors, the G-7 and so on and so forth.
In any rebellion, we can resolve it through dialogue and I think that that’s what the President is doing, that’s what the PDP leadership is out to do to see how it can dialogue and bring the situation to a close.” “But, you see, it all depends.
But for me, I believe that you cannot be a good leader unless you’re a good follower and I believe also strongly that leadership comes from God.
So the question of rebelling against leadership does not occur because if I rebel against the leadership at the federal level, I should expect somebody also to rebel against my leadership at the state level, may be from my own local government or thereabouts,” he added.


The Nation