A chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Dele Momodu, has submitted that Senate President Godswill Akpabio is no longer the same person he used to know as the Governor of Akwa Ibom State.
Momodu, who spoke on Monday during a Channels TV interview, said though they were never close, he admired what Akpabio did as Governor for the people of his state, but the Akpabio who is the current Senate President of Nigeria is afraid of something.
Speaking along the lines that the current crop of lawmakers is a rubber-stamp National Assembly under the leadership of Senator Akpabio, Momodu submitted that the federal lawmakers would approve a third term speedily if President Bola Tinubu moves for it.
The veteran journalist suggested that Akpabio is most likely afraid of the presidency, adding that the Nigerian presidency is a powerful institution.
“The good side in Akpabio was that he delivered as Governor of Akwa Ibom State. I don’t know what became of him after. You know what usually happens is that today people say he is leading a rubber-stamping Senate, perhaps out of fear of the presidency.
“The Nigerian presidency is the most powerful president, maybe after Donald Trump, if not on equal level.
“Nigeria’s presidency is so powerful that one Minister, Chief Alex Akinyele, once told me under Babangida government that a Nigerian president can turn a man into woman and a women into man. So what I see in Akpabio today is a man who is afraid of something. A man who will do anything.
“If Tinubu says tomorrow I want a third term, I can bet you in five minutes, they will vote for him, so I don’t know what happened but as Governor you know he had executive powers and with executive powers, there is much more you can do for your state and that was my admiration for him,” Momodu said during the interview.
