President Buhari’s Aide Confirms Akpabio’s Defection To APC

The Senate Minority Leader, Godswill Akpabio, is defecting from the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), a presidential aide has said.

President Muhammadu Buhari’s Special Assistant on Prosecution, Okoi Obono-Obla, posted a message on Facebook, Saturday night, saying that Mr Akpabio will be received into APC on Thursday by the Acting President Yemi Osinbajo and other top leaders of the party at a rally in Ikot Ekpene, Akwa Ibom state.

Mr. Obono-Obla also posted on the social media site a photo of Mr Akpabio with an APC leader, Bola Tinubu.

Information has been making the rounds since last week that Mr Akpabio, who is a former governor of Akwa Ibom, was perfecting his plan to leave the PDP.

There were speculations that the defection was delayed because Mr Akpabio was negotiating for some “favourable terms” for himself and his political supporters in the state.

It is claimed that the senator was asking for the position of the senate president and also that he should be made the APC leader in the state and the party political structure handed over to him.

Solacebase gathered  that the senator’s political differences with Governor Udom Emmanuel may be responsible for his defection.

Governor Emmanuel, meanwhile, on Saturday night convened an emergency PDP leaders meeting in Uyo.

The defection of Senator Akpabio is believed to have been top on the agenda of the meeting.