All Progressives Congress (APC), Presidential aspirant, Senator Godswill Akpabio on Wednesday, met with party delegates and stakeholders in Cross River State, where he assured them of his commitment to the development of the state if given the opportunity to become the president of Nigeria in 2023.
Akpabio also took time to explain his three-point agenda of fighting insecurity, uniting the country and improving the economy.
He also disclosed that “there was never a time, in my eight-year administration as the Akwa Ibom State governor that I took the people and government of Cross River State to court over oil well. I was the one that advised the then Government of Cross River State, against going to court. I was giving them money from Akwa Ibom allocation before, during and after the judgment was delivered against the state. I did that because I didn’t want the state to seriously affected by the judgment. Go and find out and if you saw that I was the one, then don’t vote for me.
“Akwa Ibom and Cross River States are one block, but we have not been recognised as such, while the other two blocks of River/Bayelsa and Edo/Delta have been recognised both at the party and at government levels.
“The 2023 presidential election therefore, provides us, the ample opportunity to assert our position as one out of the three blocks from the South-South by voting me as the next President of this country.
“I have done it before and the records are there. I am the most decorated former governor in this country. I am the only governor as of today, to have been honoured with an honorary doctorate degree by the Nigeria Defence Academy, because of the infrastructural rebirth among numerous others, that took place in Akwa Ibom State when I was the governor from 2007to 2015.
Earlier in his remarks, the Cross River State chairman of the party, Barrister Alphonso Eba, thanked Akpabio and his team for visiting the state chapter of the party, saying, “I welcome you and your entourage with warm regards from your brother, our governor and Leader, Professor Ben Ayade. You are one of the reasons why we are in the APC today. We were suffering like the Egyptians, but you came and took us to the promised land; the APC. We are all one and we will all do what that would be beneficial for the two states at the convention ground in Abuja”.
