Godswill Akpabio Vs. Thomas Thomas: Why Akpabio Is Nervous
On that fateful day, when Godswill Akpabio, Barrister Enoidem, Nse Ntuen, and other members of Akpabio's inner-circle congregated in the house of Senator Ibok Essien to discuss strategies on how to assassinate the Paramount Rulers of Ibibio who are not in support of his plan to impose a successor on the people, Akpabio had no idea that the entire discussion was discreetly being recorded.
It is not clear as to which of the Akpabio's members of his inner circle recorded the proceedings of the meeting, but what is known is that it did not take long before the existence of the tape was made available to Thomas Thomas---the Editor of Global Concord Newspaper.
As soon as Thomas was in receipt of the tape, he made it available to interested parties, including the two Paramount Rulers, whose names were specifically mentioned in the conversation.
For sharing the tape with others is the reason Thomas Thomas is being charged to court with three counts of charges that in normal societies, those charges would never stand any legal test in any court of law. The existence of the tape is making Akpabio nervous and jittery. The problem for Akpabio is that the recorded tape is now in the hands of many people, and still circulating.
Sources said when the SSS grilled Mr. Thomas in detention, they tried to pressure him to reveal the name of the individual who made the tape available to him, but being an astute journalist sworn to protect his sources of information, he refused to comply.
Mr. Thomas knows very well that divulging the name of his source will mean instant death for whoever provided the recorded tape. No journalist in his right mind would dare give out information which could lead to the murder of his source.
When Akpabio was informed that Thomas Thomas would not reveal his source, Akpabio ordered his lawyers to take the matter to court, under the false hope that by appearing in court, Mr. Thomas will be forced to reveal what the SSS could not extract from him; hence the bogus charges.
The decision by Akpabio to drag Mr. Thomas to court is a manifestation of the desperation in which Akpabio now finds himself. He has been caught with his hands inside the cookie jar indulging in diabolical plans to kill the people---our paramount rulers.
If the recorded information did not exist, Akpabio would have cried and prostrate before anyone who cares to watch him shed his crocodile tears in denial. Even with the tape, he is still denying. Going to court is an attempt to look good in the eyes of the masses, a sort of vindication. But who is he trying to fool?
Akpabio is waking up every day to realize that his support base is dwindling on a daily basis. No one in the State supports his choice of a successor. No one in the State supports his decision to represent Ikot Ekpene Senatorial District as a Senator.
Those who stood by him during the 2010/2011 struggle for a second-term have deserted him. All of these scenarios are putting an unbearable pressure on Akpabio in a magnitude which he never had the opportunity to experience in his entire fifty something years on earth.
As if to add insult to injury, Akpabio is also finding out that even those who have professed to remain in support of him are nothing but a bunch of hypocrites, who are hanging around for more crumbs from his table. All these ramifications are driving Akpabio up the wall---he is going mental.
If those who hang around Akpabio were honest, they would have advised him to use the remaining ten months to mend fences with those whose toes he stepped on. I am referring to all the men and women who helped Akpabio to become a governor, but with whom he severed relationships due to stupidity, lack of vision, naked greed, and inferiority complex.
Chasing innocent people for possible destruction and using the State security forces to victimize those he perceives as enemies will never lead Godswill Akpabio to anywhere but doom. For no matter what Akpabio and those who constantly feed him with negative ideas may think, after he leaves the office, he will need the very men and women he is now working hard to kill and lock up in prisons.
The good news for Akpabio is that in about ten months, he will be history. But with all the enemies he has made for himself, I am beginning to wonder where the man will hide. When that time comes, all his structures will definitely be bull-dosed into nothingness.
Mr. Thomas Thomas of the Global Concord will still be alive and those who are now espousing the immortality of Akpabio will become Peter, who was quick to betray Jesus Christ before the cock had the chance to crow three times.
Ikpafak Thompson Essien, Portland, Oregon