The National Vice Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Presidential Campaign Council, Senator Godswill Akpabio, has knocked APC leaders in the state who he said are secretly working for the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar.
According to Akpabio, the APC leaders are “shouting Asiwaju in the day and PDP in the night.”
He said this in the Ikot Ekpene Local Government Area of the state, where he reportedly received the leadership of 250 presidential support groups for the APC presidential candidate, Bola Tinubu.
He accused such disloyal APC leaders in Akwa Ibom as working to destabilise the party.
This was according to a statement on Saturday by his Chief Press Secretary, Mr Jackson Udom.
The statement quoted Akpabio to have said, “I am highly elated with these groups. I am even more elated that you have all resolved to work for the success of our presidential candidate, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, and all other candidates of the party from your different polling units and wards.
“These groups, to me, are the real deal. I see you people as those who are real and committed. You didn’t force me to be here. I only came to see. I have seen and I am satisfied.
“I have heard of several other groups being set up within the party by other party leaders. I am not against it, so long as they are being set up in support of the party and our presidential candidate. I will personally support and attend their meetings anytime I am around in the state.
“What I will not support is a situation where some leaders of the party in the state would be shouting Asiwaju in the day and PDP in the night. I am very much aware of a particular person in our party, who has publicly endorsed the governorship candidate of the PDP and its senatorial candidate, but would rush down to Uyo to say I am the chairman of the rally for Tinubu. Which Tinubu are you talking about?”
Describing the groups as genuine party loyalists and supporters, the former governor of Akwa Ibom State said he was encouraged by the genuiness in their actions and attitudes to the success of the party.
“These are the real grassroots politicians and anybody who will not embrace these groups is not a politician. No matter how I identify with the centre, if I am not at home with people like you, I am not a politician. This is grassroots politicking.
“Now that I have you, I will want you, as a group, to formally write and invite our presidential candidate, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed, through me, that you are ready to receive him and his entourage in a town hall setting before our rally. We want him to know that through you people, the APC has penetrated Akwa Ibom State to the grassroots and without this kind of evidence one would not know what is happening in the party.”
According to Akpabio, gone are the days when some leaders would rush to Abuja to claim credit for the party’s success, which was achieved by the people at the grassroots.
He said, “They are already positioning themselves in Abuja. I call them Abuja politicians.
“You see somebody who is a Deputy Director in the Campaign Office, taking its governorship candidate to court. He has seven cases in court against Akan Udofia. He is destabilising the APC in Akwa Ibom State for the ultimate benefit of the PDP.
“He has already positioned himself in Abuja because he knows one or two persons in other parties, so that if this one fails (God forbid), he will rush back to the PDP and say I did it.
“These are the kind of people we are expected to work with.”
