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Because I joined APC, Bishops who ‘dined with me for 8 years’ abandoned me- Akpabio

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2019: Ak[pabio declares war in Akwa Ibom

Senator representing Akwa Ibom north-west and former Akwa Ibom governor, Godswill Akpabio, has said he is being criticized by some clergymen in the state since he defected to the All Progressives Congress (APC).

Akpabio had in August, 2018 resigned as minority leader at the senate and renounced his membership of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

In a post-election article titled, ‘The Lies and Liars of the Election’ by his media office, Akpabio responded to how his critics have taken his decision to join APC.

He said his defection overshadowed every discussion in Akwa Ibom state and cast a spell of fear over the PDP who started paying clergymen to lie against him.

READ ALSO: Akpabio approaches tribunal to reclaim senate seat

“I am happy that God is not like some of His priests,” he wrote in an article.

“Ever since I decamped to APC, they have been praying against me and they have joined in peddling the lies about me. Very well-known Church prelates and Bishops that dined with me for 8 years while I was governor, despite my benevolence to them and their families joined the fray calling me killer herdsman for joining APC.

“But some of these men of God were in this same Country in 2012 when the farmers/herdsmen clashes claimed the lives of over 1000 people in the Benue/Plateau/Mambilla axis. At that time, a Christian was the President but was not accused of being a killer of Christians. The farmers/herdsmen clashes predate Nigeria’s Independence.

“The clashes have occurred under various leadership. Yet the “men of God” have been unconscionable in accusing the current President of masterminding genocide against Christians because he is a Muslim. I am happy that God does not condemn a man based on one man’s testimony, but He sees the heart and judges our motives and intentions. Whether one is a Christian or Muslim, we all worship the same God WHO will at the appointed time judge us from our deeds in words and actions.”

Akpabio said in the course of this election, he had been photoshopped by propaganda merchants who told the lies about him. He said his letterhead and signature had been forged by the same merchants to write falsehood as if he wrote them.

He alleged that they conscripted women from South Africa who claimed to be foreign observers and paid them to lie that he detained them using thugs.

Speaking on his endorsement of Udom Emmanuel as governor, he said: “Whether I was right or wrong is for history to judge. Nevertheless I picked him to succeed me and by the grace of God and the votes of Akwa Ibom electorates, he won the election. So God made him governor,” he said.

Akpabio, had lost his bid to return to the Senate for a second term; he was defeated by the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Chris Ekpenyong. However, he is at the tribunal to challenge the election result.

His party, the APC, lost almost all the elections in the state, including the governorship and the presidential elections.

Despite this defeat, Akpabio said: “My dream for Akwa Ibom lives on. My love for Akwa Ibom and Nigeria waxes stronger.”

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