Defection Fever: Sen Akpabio Resigns As Senate Minority Leader
- Akwa Ibom hosts APC mega rally August 8
BY VICTOR BUORO, ABUJA – Less than forty-eight hours to his formal defection into the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in a planned mega rally, Senator Godswill Akpabio, has resigned his position as the Minority Leader of the eighth (8th) Nigerian Senate.
This is as the Senior Special Assistant (SSA) to the President on National Assembly Matters (Senate), Senator Ita Enang confirmed that APC is already bubbling to receive the former Akwa Ibom governor into the party on Wednesday, August 8, 2018 in Ikot Ekpene, Akwa Ibom State.
A media aide of the Senator, popularly known with the ‘Uncommon Transformation’ his trademark, Mr Jackson Udom, said the resignation letter, dated Saturday, August 4, 2018, was addressed to the Deputy Senate Minority Leader, Senator Emmanuel Bwacha.
According to Udom, “Senator Akpabio thanked the Senate leadership, the minority leadership, all distinguished Senators, his party the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for the opportunity to lead the PDP Caucus in the last three years.”
The letter further stated that; “Senator Akpabio is expected to be received into the All Progressives Congress (APC) at a rally in Ikot Ekpene, Akwa Ibom State on Wednesday, August 8, 2018.”
Akpabio, who governed the oil-rich Akwa Ibom state between 2007 and 2015, is the Senator representing Akwa Ibom North West in the National Assembly.
Speaking on the welcome party for Akpabio, Senator Enang, in company of the Senate Majority Leader, and Senator Ahmed Lawan, told State House correspondents after meeting with Acting President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo on Monday in Abuja that Akpabio will be leading other Akwa Ibom PDP lawmakers and bigwigs into the APC.
The elated Presidential Legislative aide further said; “Lawan has said that there are 53 Senators in APC but I want to assure him that APC has harvested people from PDP and other political parties. Akpabio is formally joining the APC and that will be a big ceremony on August 8 in Akwa Ibom.”
Senator Enang, who feared that the country might face total government shut down, if the lawmakers do not reconvene urgently, said; “We are still appealing to the National Assembly to reconvene; you remember that we passed the budget with the understanding that a great amount of the money will be gotten from foreign loans.”
He explained that though the NASS had given approval for a loan, “the amount that would be gotten was not approved; the Fiscal Responsibility Act requires that the President should specifically state the amount he wants to get from foreign loans and present it before the National Assembly.
“That letter has been presented before the National Assembly and it has to pass that amount before it could be obtained from the foreign financing institutions.
“This is what we are asking and if does not happen, in the next few months, we have a complete government shut down because what we are receiving from the Federation Account as Federal Government share, the capital component, is not enough to sustain even 15 per cent to 20 percent of budget.”
Senator Enang however warned that “there may be a complete government shut down and I know Nigerians will not like it; that is why we are appealing to the National Assembly to reconvene.”- With NAN report
