Agency Report
The Senate President Godswill Akpabio has said that the All Progressives Congress (APC) will produce a governor in Akwa Ibom State in 2027.
“It will be an aberration for the number three citizen not to have a governor from the same party at the end of an election,” Mr Akpabio said on Friday at a meeting of the APC leaders in Uyo, according to a report by the News Agency of Nigeria.
“You know, wherever the Senate president is, that is where the party is.
“Is it possible that Nigeria will give Akwa Ibom the number three citizen and at the end of the election, it will not produce an APC governor,” Mr Akpabio said.
Mr Akpabio, who acknowledged the internal crisis in the APC in the state, said the party could not win the 2023 Senate election in Akwa Ibom North-East and Akwa Ibom South districts because of “lack of coordination.”
He urged the party to set up a committee to reconcile the party leaders in the state ahead of the 2027 general elections.
“I’ve mandated the Chairman of the party to set up a reconciliation committee in the state, we have to bring our members together. If we are united, there is no barrier that we can’t break.
“We will make sure that (the) APC in Akwa Ibom is one, we will give people the option that either you belong to us or them.
“They should not be in-between. We are going to resolve all the issues in APC, we are going to advise some people you can’t be here and there,” the Senate president said.
Earlier, the APC Chairperson in Akwa Ibom, Stephen Ntukekpo, lauded President Bola Tinubu for “ensuring inclusiveness” in his administration and pledged his loyalty to the party.
The ruling party in the state since 1999, following the return of democracy, is the Peoples Democratic Party(PDP).
The Senate President, who is an ex-governor of the state, was elected on the platform of the PDP for two terms spanning 2007 and 2015, before defecting to the APC in 2018.
(NAN)