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I want to join Buhari to sanitise electoral process, ensure votes count – Akpabio

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Former governor of Akwa Ibom State, Senator Godswill Akpabio, at the weekend hinted that he will be working with President Muhammadu Buhari to sanitize the electoral process in order to ensure votes count in future elections in Nigeria.

“For me, it is important as a former governor and elder statesman to join the President to sanitise the electoral process so that we will ensure that votes count in future elections.

“There is no need for Nigeria to continue taking one step forward and five steps backward,” he said.

Akpabio, who represented Akwa Ibom North-West in the 8th Senate but failed in his re-election bid to be part of the 9th Senate, did not mention in what capacity he would want to work with President Buhari.

However, there are speculations he is among those Buhari may appoint ministers for his second term cabinet.

Akpabio spoke at Ukana, Essien Udim Local Government Area of the state when he empowered some of his constituents.

Earlier in his speech at the event, Akpabio insisted that he was rigged out during the last general elections.

According to him, the state Resident Electoral Commissioner, Mike Igini, was responsible for his loss of the bid to be re-elected a senator, saying that he is the “most compromised electoral officer in Nigeria and should not be allowed to hold public office”.

He told his audience at the event, “Please nobody should have any headache, nobody should cry because there is no need. You know your senator cannot lose election because we were all there,” he said.

“But many of them thought they can go and write whatever they like and even cancel what you won. I have never in my life experienced a resident electoral commissioner like Mike Igini and my message to him is that his hypocrisy will be exposed.

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“There is no way you can come into Akwa Ibom and commit that kind of electoral fraud you committed then you go back to Channels Television and sit down and talk as if you are a pope.

“Very soon the world will know… All the materials we are recovering everyday will expose you.

“Just yesterday, the police arrested people carrying materials from where they voted and were trying to sneak into INEC. The other day, they arrested someone with card readers. He was frantically calling and trying to say that they were used for training three months after election so that they will continue to manipulate.”

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