Senator Godswill Akpabio Thursday apologized to members of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for leaving the party months before the 2019 general elections. Akpabio left the PDP in August 2018 for the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC). “I apologize to my colleagues in the PDP for the manner I left,” Akpabio said at the 8th Senate valedictory session in Abuja. I know they miss me.”
Akpabio, a former Akwa Ibom State governor, resigned his position as the Senate minority leader and was accorded a heroic reception by supporters and admirers at the mega rally held at the Ikot Ekpene township stadium to officially receive him to APC. “Let the world know I’ve joined APC, I’m now a progressive,” Akpabio said in August 2018. What I have done today is to link the people of Akwa Ibom to the centre. Akpabio is now in APC.”
About 30 APC senators and members of National Working Committee (NWC), including then acting President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, who was represented by the secretary to the government of the federation, Boss Mustapha, national chairman of the party, Adams Oshiomhole and the party’s National Leader, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu.
However, after over eight months in the ruling party, Akpabio said his stay in the Senate the APC has been a mixture of different feelings. “My stay in the 8th Senate is a mixture of sadness and happiness,” Akpabio said.
Akpabio’s defection to the APC was perceived as a massive boost for the party in the South-south during the general elections in February 2019. APC, as at the time of Akpabio’s defection from the PDP, had lost 15 senators including Senate President Bukola Saraki to the opposition party; a move that left the leadership of the Senate in the hands of the opposition PDP. The senators that defected include Barnabas Gemade(Benue), Shaaba Lafiaji (Kwara), Rafiu Ibrahim(Kwara), and Usman Nafada (Gombe). Others were Senators Suleiman Hunkuyi, Ibrahim Danbaba, Ubale Shittu, Isah Misau, Suleiman Nazif, Rafiu Ibrahim, Dino Melaye, Lanre Tejuosho.
At the time of his defection, the former Senate minority leader 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 signaled 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.”
