Akpabio has called for a committee to be set up to sort out the differences and bring unity among the party members.
President of the Senate, Godswill Akpabio,(APC, Akwa Ibom North-West) has tasked the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Akwa-Ibom to set up a reconciliatory committee to handle the internal crisis in the state.
At a stakeholders’ meeting in Uyo, the capital of Akwa-Ibom, on Friday, 19 January 2024, Akpabio made this declaration and pledged to realign the party ahead of the general elections in 2027.
“There 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,” he said.
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Akpabio, who was optimistic about the APC winning the state in the general elections of 2027, said he had given the party chairman instructions to form a committee to sort out differences and bring the party’s members together.
“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.
“I pray against confusion among my leaders not in Uyo alone but in all the senatorial districts; we must reconcile among ourselves,” he said.
“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.
“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,” he said.
He also blamed the inability of the APC to win the Awka-Ibom North-East and Akwa-Ibom South Senate seats at the 2023 poll on lack of coordination.
“So, I didn’t know whether you were serious, but in 2027, I want to assure you that we will be more serious.
“I tried to call them to give me your campaign plan, but they refused to give it to me. Is there anywhere I will enter that people will not vote for APC?
“Look at what the other side did; they gave President Tinubu 120,000 votes, but Uyo and Eket combined ended up with only 40,000 votes,” he said.
Speaking further at the stakeholders meeting, Akpabio stated that he is serving Nigeria with the same enthusiasm he served as governor of Akwa Ibom state.
“Is it not when I became governor that the people of Ibeno and Eket knew that they could have hospitals? As your governor, I gave you Akpabio-Mber (the 13th month salary for civil servants), I gave you free education; I sent you on pilgrimage to Jerusalem and to Mecca to pray for the state.
“Those were part of the secrets of uncommon transformation. We assembled the largest choir on earth to sing to the glory of God. That was the event for which the state won the Guinness World Record.
“God has now sent me to Nigeria to do what I did for Akwa Ibom State. They used to call Akwa Ibom State the Land of Promise. But is it not when I became the governor that you started seeing the manifestations of those promises?
“Of course, it was until I became a governor that I built and completed the International Airport, the Leo Meridian Hotels and Golf Resort, among others”, he added.
STAR Check: Nigerians, particularly, constituents of Akwa-Ibom North-West district, can keep tabs on the legislative performance of Sen. Akpabio throughout the 10th senate here.
