Senate President Godswill Akpabio says joining the All Progressives Congress was the best political move he made, insisting he was in the “wrong party” while in the Peoples Democratic Party.
He spoke on Friday during the inauguration of access roads to the Renewed Hope Cities and Estates in the Karsana District of the Federal Capital Territory as part of activities marking President Bola Tinubu’s third year in office.
Akpabio was responding after FCT Minister Nyesom Wike described him as an “uncommon performer” during his time in the PDP. He asked members of the APC National Working Committee to ignore the remark, saying it referred to a time before the APC existed.
“Please ignore the comment of the honourable minister that I was an uncommon performer in PDP. He is not talking about PDP of today,” Akpabio said.
He explained that he had already spent more than seven years as governor of Akwa Ibom State before the APC was formed in 2014.
“A progressive-minded person like me should belong to a progressive family. And therefore, when APC came to be, I discovered that that was my group, that I was in the wrong party called PDP. So I took my exit early and joined the progressives,” he said.
Akpabio also said the PDP had become divided and described Wike as the “national leader of the winning faction” of the opposition party.
“Shortly after that, you now know what happened to PDP. They are fragmented. So, I don’t know how you are going to put it together, but I recognise you as a national leader, national leader of the winning faction of PDP because you are doing well,” he said.
Earlier, Akpabio recalled Wike’s visit to Akwa Ibom when he was governor. He said Wike inspected one of the state’s underground drainage projects and said he would “perform miracles” if he became Rivers governor.
Akpabio said Wike later fulfilled that promise after becoming governor. He added that he jokingly told him he had backed his ambition “not to surpass what I did” and urged him to “take it easy.” He said providing infrastructure had since become part of Wike’s “DNA.”
The remarks came two days after Akpabio, during the inauguration of Akinwumi Ajibola Street in Abuja, said he was surprised the PDP was still in existence and urged Wike to allow it “die.”
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