Following weeks of speculations about his defection to the All Progressives Congress (APC), the immediate past Governor of Akwa Ibom, Senator Godswill Akpabio has officially dumped the opposition People’s Democratic Party (PDP) for the ruling party.
The Senator representing Akwa Ibom North West (Ikot Ekpene) Senatorial District, on Sunday, resigned his position as the Leader of the Minority at the Senate, and was received into the APC on Wednesday at a rally in Ikot Ekpene by the party’s National Chairman, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole and other chieftains of the party.
Akpabio, who now assumes the position of Leader of the APC in Akwa Ibom, is believed to have jumped ship to the ruling party, in the light of the love-lost relationship between him and his successor, Governor Udom Emmanuel, chief among which led to the sack of two commissioners from the state cabinet; Victor Antai (Culture and Tourism) and Ibanga Akpabio (Labour, Productivity and Manpower Planning) late Tuesday by the number 1 citizen, for their loyalty to the former governor.
He was the pioneer Chairman of the People’s Democratic Party Governors Forum (PDP-GF) and had previously held key positions in government as a member of the (now opposition) party, including serving as a Commissioner in three key ministries: Petroleum and Natural Resources, Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, as well as Lands and Housing under then Governor, Obong Victor Attah, before he rose to become Governor of the State for eight years, having won the 2007 and 2011 gubernatorial elections.
Temidayo Taiwo-Sidiq is a Journalist, Political Analyst and Satirist with major interest in Nigerian Politics, Governance and Sports.
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