Fear grips PDP in Akwa Ibom as APC takes the presidential seat

There is a lot of activity going on in the Government house in Akwa Ibom right now. People moving in and out, worried looks on their face. The Governor and his aides rush in and out, without saying a word to reporters.

The PDP state government made a major bet last weekend - they bet heavily that Atiku would win the election. They threw all their resources at the presidential election, hoping that Akwa Ibom would deliver the final few votes that Atiku needed to win.

But instead, the APC won with over 5 million votes, thrusting the state PDP into a crisis. Udom Emmanuel had emptied state coffers to fund the election, throwing insane amounts of money at each polling unit. In many polling units, he even paid for chicken to be roasted for voters.

In spite of all that, and in spite of PDP being the ruling party in the state, and in spite of Akwa Ibom being a traditionally PDP state, the APC gained massively everywhere. Analysts predict that without the state-sponsored inducement, APC would naturally have won the election.

Right now, with PDP having lost the federal election, and most other PDP states locked in their own sub-national battles, the Akwa Ibom state PDP is isolated and desperate. The depleted accounts also mean that many who staked money on behalf of the Government have not been paid yet, and they are getting angry.

This has greatly worried the Emmanuel Udom led Government, with analysts predicting a landslide loss for the ruling PDP as voters and local politicians jump ship to align with the ruling party.

The state politicians are now worried not just about losing the election, but about what happens after that. The billions that were invested in the presidential election, where did this money come from? The EFCC is already very curious, and the current state government knows this.