Vehicular movement on Oron-Ikot Ekpene Federal Road, Uyo, capital of Akwa Ibom State was brought to a snarl as Senator Godswill Akpabio stormed the state to firm up his defection to the All Progressives Congress, APC.
The jubilant crowd chanted his name as he returned pleasantries and cheers by coming out of his car and interacted with them.
Akpabio had arrived at the Ibom International Airport, Uyo at noon and boarded his SUV amidst cheers from the various groups which thronged the airport to welcome him.
The former Senate Minority Leader is billed to make official declaration Wednesday during a special reception rally at Ikot Ekpene Township Stadium.
Immediate past spokesman of APC, Edet Bassey, expressed optimism that Akpabio’s defection to the party was a good omen for the party given his political antecedent.
”The party is like church and the church cannot throw out a sinner. You welcome him or her and change him or her. We welcome him into the party because he has great political value.
He has gone to see the President and other leaders of the party. So, it will be suicidal for him to do anything that will jeopardise the interest of the party in the state,” he said.
Meanwhile, a chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in Akwa Ibom State, Chief Sylvester Akaiso, said Akwa Ibom people have been relieved of burden following the defection of Akpabio from PDP to the APC.
Akaiso, who was a member of Godswill Akpabio Campaign Organisation in 2007 under Otuekong Ibiok as chairman and Godswill 2011 with Otuekong Idongesit Nkanga, said the news about Akpabio’s defection was received with joy, adding that there was jubilation everywhere in Oron.
He said that many of the APC members in Oro ethnic nationality had declared their intention to leave the party if Akpabio had actually been admitted into APC, adding that those who are PDP members have said that they will not follow him to APC.
Meanwhile, crisis may rock the state chapter of the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, following the defection of former Senate Minority Leader, Godswill Akpabio from PDP to its fold.
A group, Oro Reclamation Movement, in a statement by its President, Anietie Isong, Tuesday, warned that any negotiation entered into by APC with Akpabio without the interest of Oro nation would be an exercise in futility.
In the statement entitled APC 2019 Governorship: its Oro Nation or Nothing Else, the group reminded the APC that, the state was made up of a tripod, comprising the Ibibios, Annangs and Oro ethnic groups.
