The former governor of Akwa Ibom State and immediate past senate majority leader, Mr. Godswill Akpabio has confessed that although he was a member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in 2015, he supported President Muhammadu Buhari of the All Progressives Congress (APC) but not the candidate of the PDP, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan.
He made the confession during a meeting of elders and leaders of Akwa Ibom State with the president in Abuja on Monday.
However, Akpabio who defected to the All Progressives Congress (APC) recently said he was compelled to vote for Jonathan he (Jonathan) is from the 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, he 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,” Akpabio said.
“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 said.
He said throughout the 16 years of PDP rule at the federal level, the government did not construct a one-kilometre road project in the state.
Consequently, Akpabio said Akwa Ibom State would be the first state to be won by the APC in the South-south at the forthcoming 2019 general election, adding that Buhari will win the state by 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.
“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 Mr. President, come 2019 in Akwa Ibom State,” he said.
