A candidate for the Senate President’s role, Senator Godswill Akpabio, ahead of the inauguration of the 10th National Assembly, has contradicted recent media claims that his colleagues have retracted their support for him.
The senator stated that the Stability Group and incoming Senators are still firmly backing his ambition.
Akpabio, the former Akwa Ibom State Governor, encouraged the purveyors of this unsubstantiated rumour to cease their propaganda.
He firmly stated that no senator has withdrawn support for him.
A statement from his Chief Press Secretary, Jackson Udom, declared the news as “unfounded, false and a calculated attempt to smear the seamless relationship between the former Minority Leader and his distinguished colleagues who are very much in support of his aspiration. They should stop the propaganda against Senator Akpabio because no Senator has withdrawn his support from him.”
The statement also took the opportunity to clarify previous comments made by Senator
Udom said Akpabio as Minister of Niger Delta Affairs had decried the rampant corruption within his ministry, not the National Assembly.
He lamented the scenario where a small group of individuals would monopolize significant contracts in the agency under the pretence of granting them to the lawmakers, often without the legislators’ knowledge.
The statement added, “There was never a time, whether in public or in private, that he described the National Assembly, which he is a very proud member, as a cesspool of corruption. Those peddling and sponsoring such unfounded allegations are doing so for political gains. Any organized campaign of calumny against Akpabio will surely fail.”
