The
chances of All Progressives Congress, APC, winning the governorship in Akwa
Ibom State in the forthcoming general poll is brighter with the defection of
Senator Godswill Akpabio to the party,
Information and Culture Minister, Lai
Mohammed, has said.This came as Senator Ita Enang, Special Assistant to President Muhammadu Buhari
on National Assembly Matters, yesterday, told Nigerians not to listen to
allegations from some quarters that Akpabio, who recently defected from the
Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, to the ruling APC was no liability but an asset
to the party. Enang made the remark during a chat with newsmen in Calabar,
Cross River State, shortly after Prelate and Moderator of General Assembly of
Presbyterian Church of Nigeria, PCN, Rev. Nzie Nsi Eke, declared open the 23rd
General Assembly to mark its 172 years of existence in Nigeria.
The
presidential aide while soliciting support from all Nigerians to enable
President Buhari quell insurgency, corruption and every other social ill that
had slowed down the country’s economy, said Akpabio who left PDP was a great
asset to the APC. He said: “Akpabio was what we could call the certificate of
registration of the PDP. We discovered that he had a nationalist posture,
considering his pedigree, we had no option other than to approach him.
The APC worked so hard to bring him to its
fold. “What we observed was that Akpabio already had a lot of
democratic/nationalist credentials in him and was one Nigerian willing to work
for the survival of the country and not for his parochial interest. We had to
bring him to our party and so light met light. I charge other political parties
to cry less.” Meanwhie, Mohammed, who spoke on TVC Nigeria programme, ‘’This
Morning,” monitored in Uyo, described as a big blow to the PDP, the defection
of Senator Akpabio to the party, noting that the bandwagon effect would spread
across the South-South geo-political zone. He said: “Akpabio is a seasoned
politician and he knows which party will best represent his people. He knows
what is best for his people. He has ruled the state for eight-years and anybody
who goes to Akwa Ibom will see his imprints in the state.” Oro nation demands
guber slot from APC Meanwhile, the people of Oro nation, the third largest
ethnic group in the state have demanded that APC zones the governorship slot to
the area to appease them over the wrongs committed by Akpabio when he
single-handedly foisted Governor Udom Emmanuel, an Ibibio from Eket senatorial
sistrict, on the state. Speaking under the aegis of Oro Mandate Group, they said:
“Oro nation will never compromise on the 2019 governorship seat as this remains
the only way to preserve, promote and protect the peace, unity and progress of
Akwa Ibom State as proposed by our founding fathers. “The interest of Oro must
be a major priority come 2019 and we demand that the governorship position be
zoned to Oro by the APC and nothing less. We are tired of being constantly used
and dumped by other ethnic groups while we remain slaves in the politics of the
state.”
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