NEW MINISTER OF OIL-RICH NIGER DELTA, GODSWILL AKPABIO, HIGHLY CONTESTED

摘要

The new minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Godswill Obot Akpabio, appointed on August 21, has established his legitimacy and authority through head-on confrontations, sometimes with the head of state Muhammadu Buhari himself. A native of the Akwa Ibom state, of which he was the commissioner of oil from 2002 to 2006 then governor from 2007 to 2015, Akpabio joined the president’s party All Progressives Congress (APC) at rather a late stage in the game, in August 2018. He previously had been a senator of the opposition People’s Democratic Party (PDP). Throughout his career, he has often spoken up against Buhari, who he once claimed lacks qualifications. Once he joined the presidential camp however, he quickly set about pulling strings to get a ministerial posting. Akpabio does not get along well with Ita Solomon Enang, now the president’s advisor for the Niger Delta (see inset). The new minister’s former political family, the PDP, has accused the 56-year-old of jumping ship to join the APC to avoid the Nigerian anti-corruption agency Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), which believes he embezzled nearly $3.8 million from Akwa Ibom’s coffers. Akpabio will be able to draw on his vice minister Festus Keyamo, a lawyer to Ijaw leader Asari Dokubo and spokesperson for Buhari during the 2019 campaign.