By Kolawole Ojebisi
Don’t choose kneeling loyalists as successors, Akpabio warns govs
Senate President Godswill Akpabio has advised second-term governors against handing the reins of power to subservient but unambitious loyalists in a bid to continue to rule by proxy.
Akpabio maintained choosing a successor based on superficial affectations like kneeling and rolling on the floor, from experience, often boomerang.
The ex-Akwa Ibom Governor stated this on Saturday at the inauguration of the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway’s first 30 kilometres in the Lekki area.
Akpabio stressed the place of vision in leadership, urging second-term governors, especially those in the All Progressives Congress, to prioritise visionary leadership over patronising loyalty.
Akpabio said, “We have a president who has both sight and vision. And this, for me, is something I must advise our governors, particularly those of them who are in their second term. Do not give power to anybody who is not looking for power.
“Don’t give power to anybody who is not prepared. Don’t go hiding in your heart that this boy is very subservient; he is always kneeling when he is talking to me, and his wife is always rolling on the floor. I think I should make this one the governor.
“If you do that, you are giving power to somebody who is not prepared for governance, and they will disappoint you. This is where betrayals normally start. I am just trying to give some advice.
“For the progressive governors, I believe that all of you are doing well because you are being led by a man who has both sight and vision.”
The event was attended by President Bola Tinubu, Works Minister Dave Umahi, as well as second-term governors including Hope Uzodimma (Imo), Dapo Abiodun (Ogun), and Babajide Sanwo-Olu (Lagos).
Akpabio’s remarks must have been prompted by the history of rifts between governors and their handpicked successors pockmarking the country’s political space.
Prominent in recent memory are those of Adams Oshiomole of Edo and his successor, Godwin Obaseki; Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna and Uba Sani, and still fresh in memory is that of Nyesom Wike and Siminalayi Fubara.
