Former minority leader Senator Godswill Akpabio has, after weeks of speculation, dumped the People’s Democratic Party for the ruling All Progressives Congress.
“Let the world know I’ve joined APC, I’m now a progressive,” Akpabio said on Wednesday.
“What I have done today is to link the people of Akwa Ibom to the centre. Akpabio is now in APC,”
The former Akwa Ibom governor, who resigned his position as the Senate minority leader Tuesday, was accorded a heroic reception by a crowd of supporters and admirers at the mega rally held at the Ikot Ekpene township stadium to officially receive him to APC.
He was received into the party by no fewer than 30 APC’s senators and members of National Working Committee (NWC), including the Acting President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, SAN, who was represented by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Boss Mustapha, national chairman of the party, Adams Oshiomole and the party’s National Leader, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu.
The former Senate minority leader also dismissed the reports that he joined the APC because of the fear of being prosecuted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
“I have never been charged to court. The EFCC did not find anything on me.”
He said joining the ruling party signalled the end of the PDP in not just Akwa Ibom but the Niger Delta.
“Our people should be part and parcel of Nigeria. We don’t believe in segregation. The region as a minority cannot stand on its own,” he said.
The Senate majority leader, Sen. Ahmed Lawan, described Akpabio’s defection as a big one and noted that PDP tried hard to stop the defection.
“The defection that surpasses all other defections. This is a defection that has shaken the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). They followed Akpabio everywhere to prevent him from defecting but he ignored them.”
