Akpabio said he joined APC to help salvage the country and added that the ruling party would sweep away poverty and impunity.

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Joe Effiong, Uyo and Ndubuisi Orji, Abuja

Former Senate minority leader, Senator Godswill Akpabio, has assured the people of Akwa Ibom State and the entire South South “meaningful visibility” at the Federal Government.

He gave the assurance yesterday in Uyo, the Akwa Ibom State capital, when he formally defected from the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), at a mega rally held at the Ikot Ekpene Township Stadium.

He told the huge crowd that he decided to join APC having discovered that President Muhammadu Buhari “is a man of integrity and a nationalist.”

Akpabio said he joined APC to help salvage the country and added that the ruling party would sweep away poverty and impunity.

He said: “In this period of national emergency, everybody should put hands together to support the government to bring peace to people.

“I like to be a conspirator, who joins hands to conspire to bring food to the tables of Nigerians; I like to be a conspirator, who joins hands to conspire to bring peace to Benue State; I like to be a conspirator, who joins hands to aspire to stop the killings in our country; I like to be a conspirator, who join hands to bring uncommon transformation of Nigeria.

“I don’t want to talk about Akwa Ibom State, because we are here on national platform. But, this is the moment of uncommon change; uncommon change has come to Akwa Ibom; uncommon change has come to South-South,” Akpabio said.

He denied rumours that he was forced to join the APC due to his corruption case at the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and said although several allegations bordering on graft were leveled against him, he had never been charged to court, because nothing was found against him.

Akpabio apologised to those who had left PDP in the state earlier to join APC, saying any action he took was for the benefit of the state.

Earlier, the senate leader, Ahmed Lawan, has dismissed the defection of senate president, Bukola Saraki and 14 others to PDP and said losing all of them cannot be compared with the gain APC has made with Akpabio’s defection.

READ ALSO: Defection: We wish Akpabio well – Emmanuel

Lawan, who led about 30 other APC senators to Ikot Ekpene, to formally receive the former Akwa Ibom State governor yesterday, said Akpabio’s defection has shaken the nation to its foundation and swallowed the defections of the other 15 senators to PDP.

“This defection has shaken the PDP to its foundation. They followed him everywhere. They followed him in Nigeria and overseas, begging him on their knees never to defect.

“But, this uncommon senator is a nationalist who believes in a unity and strength of Nigeria, and, also, believes in the government of President Muhammadu Buhari as well as the leadership of APC,” Lawan said.

He said though Akpabio was in the PDP, he was not playing a destructive opposition, but was always considerate of the national interest, even as a minority leader, thus, providing only meaningful opposition.

“He is always conscious of the fact that we need stability, unity, peace and security. Today, my brother (referring to Akpabio), you are no longer minority. You are welcome to the large family of the APC in Nigeria. Your influence has gone beyond national assembly. Your influence has cut across the entire length and breadth of Nigeria.”

The national chairman of APC, Mr Adam Oshiomole, said with Akpabio joining APC, very soon the entire South-South would be governed by the APC.

READ ALSO: Oshiomhole, APC senators in crucial meeting

Secretary of the Government of the Federation, Mr Boss Mustafa, who represented the Acting President, Prof Yemi Osinbajo, on the occasion, charged Akwa Ibom people to join APC, as Buhari remains the only person who can win the presidential election across the country, even in states like Kano, Jigawa, Gome, Sokoto and Adamawa, which currently have presidential aspirants on the platform of the PDP.

In his remark, National Leader of All Progressives Congress (APC), Bola Tinubu, alleged that some members of the National Assembly were planning to impeach President Muhammadu Buhari, but warned the plotters to drop their sinister move, because “it is not possible for a lizard to wrestle an antelope.”

“We believe in government of the people, for the people and by the people, but the conservatives believe in government of sharing. Nigeria’s money belongs to Nigerians; we say Nigerians must be given development and we believe in investing in the people. But, they believe in sharing and looting the money. Today, we are aspiring in our vision, but the PDP has no vision. They believe in sharing and looting the treasury.’’

Nigerians, he said, gave PDP 16 years to rule, but the party failed.

“Today, Buhari says we must change and account for Nigeria’s money, but they are resisting it.

Quoting the Bible, Tinubu, a Muslim said: “The people in the city shall be swept away with brooms.’’

Meanwhile, the National Chairman of PDP, Prince Uche Secondus, yesterday said Akpabio, is swimming against the tide by deciding to defect to the APC.

READ ALSO: Nigeria, country in crisis –Secondus

Secondus, who was reacting to Akpabio’s defection to the ruling party, said it was unfortunate that the former Senate minority leader chose to endanger his political career, by going into a “sinking ship at a time every other person is finding their way out of it.”

The PDP chairman, in a statement by his Special Assistant on Media, Ike Abonyi, said the former governor must have acted out of self preservation and noted that his action “does not enjoy the blessing of the people of Akwa Ibom, whose mandate he enjoyed for eight years as state governor and nearly four years now as a senator.”

He said: “ I cannot fathom any reason why on earth why Senator Akpabio should work against the tide, moving at opposite direction to a place every reasonable person is escaping from.

“He deserves our pity, because whatever would make somebody to choose bad for good is clearly one that he should be prayed for, for salvation, especially given the fact that wolves are waiting for his arrival to devour him. How on earth can anybody, who has his eyes wide open, be seen walking into danger knowingly.”