Akwa Ibom State Governor, Godswill Akpabio, has denied endorsing any candidate to succeed him when he serves out his tenure of eight years in May 2015.
“Such allegation is baseless and it is false and you have to understand that this is politics time and people are doing their best to blackmail one another, bring about falsehood in an attempt to win elections, primaries or gain political power,” he explained in Abuja.
“In all these things they are saying, the result is not yet out we would know when the result of the primaries is out.
“I assure you that am a democrat and I will never impose any candidate on the good people of Akwa Ibom State. The candidate will be selected by the people of the state.’’
Akpabio reiterated that his administration has been run on consultation with the people, which has helped to transform the state.
“I focus on good governance in my state and the PDP (Peoples Democratic Party) is out to ensure electoral independence.
“I have a lot of respect for the elders and the founding fathers of the party and President Goodluck Jonathan who found it expedient to make me a member of the party’s inner caucus.”
He said he is “a strong party man” and identifies with the state PDP working committee, the people and all the founding fathers.
“The problem in my state is that we have one or two party founding fathers who lost primaries in 2006 and from that period they lost interest in the PDP.
“In 2011, they attended ACN (Action Congress of Nigeria) rallies and stood on the podium to raise the hands of the opposition candidate, and if those people had won, the PDP would have been extinct in Akwa Ibom. But by the grace of God, we defeated them.’’
Akpabio insisted that the PDP was intact in Akwa Ibom State but that a few people had decided to be on a voyage of discovery.
He expressed gratitude to the PDP leadership for constituting the committee which would ensure reconciliation among party members.
“The doors are still open for all of them who are still interested to join the party, whoever wants to come back can come back.
“If the elders want to return, they can come but we cannot do so by compromising the election of Mr President and the governorship election of PDP in Akwa Ibom State.”
Akwa Ibom is a “PDP state,” he stressed, and “we do not mind opposition, but we would not want to be defeated by the opposition.”