Former Akwa Ibom State Governor, Senator Godswill Akpabio, has said he was supporting Muhammadu Buhari within his heart in the 2015 presidential election against ex-president, Goodluck Jonathan.
Akpabio, who was the senate minority leader in the national assembly until his defection last month from the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressives Congress (APC), said this after a meeting of the elders and leaders of Akwa Ibom State with Buhari in the state house on Monday.
He noted that he was compelled to vote for Goodluck Jonathan, since he was a son of Niger Delta and he did not want to engage in anti-party activities as a PDP governor and also the chairman of PDP governors’ forum at the time.
However, Akpabio said now that he finally belongs to where his soul and spirit were in 2015, he could freely express his interest at the 2019 polls without fear or favour.
“In 2015, we had a son of the Niger Delta, former President Goodluck Jonathan, contesting the election and I was also a chieftain of the PDP. I was also the Chairman of PDP Governors’ Forum. So, in spite of the fact that I believed strongly that the current president needed to be supported, there was no way I could play anti-party activity in 2015. So, I voted for PDP,” he was quoted as saying.
He said Akwa Ibom State would be the first state to be won by the APC in the South-south in the forthcoming 2019 general election, adding that Buhari will win the state by a landslide.
“But today, I am at liberty to exercise my franchise and that means I am with my body and soul – that is, with my supporters and my family – and as a leader, we are going out there en masse, in our thousands to cast our votes for the president in 2019 and I am saying this with emphasis,” he said.
He said PDP in Akwa Ibom was only an empty shell, as most of those in the state are waiting for the right time to defect like him. He noted that no fewer than 266,000 persons had also dumped the PDP for APC in the state. He said the defection from the APC does not pose any threat and can not limit Buhari’s chances in the 2019 election, adding that every single indigene of South-south will vote for Buhari.
“I can predict that the first state in Nigeria to fall to the APC in 2019 presidential election is Akwa Ibom State. No one can controvert this. l still speak with authority because I have my people’s backing to pronounce what I have just pronounced. Victory is for APC and victory is for President, come 2019 in Akwa Ibom State,” Akpabio said.
More so, he added that he pleaded with the president to allow him be part of his delegates to Beijing, China, adding that it was in China the plan to hold yesterday’s meeting with Buhari came to light.
Amongst the delegation were former Petroleum Minister, Don Etiebet; APC governorship candidate in Akwa Ibom in 2015, Umana Umana; former deputy governor of the state, Nsima Nkere; Otoekong Jackson, Sunny Udoh, Eseme Oyibo, national assembly members, among others.
