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If my seat is declared vacant, Saraki’s own must be too—Akpabio

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If my seat is declared vacant, Saraki’s own must be too—Akpabio

Senator Godswill Akpabio, who is representing Akwa Ibom north-west, says his seat cannot be declared vacant without other defectors’ seats as well.

The Reformed All Progressives Congress (R-APC) had on Sunday asked Senate President Bukola Saraki to declare Akpabio’s seat vacant following his defection to the ruling party from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

The group said its call was based on the grounds that there was no faction within the PDP.

But speaking with journalists at the national assembly on Monday, Akpabio dismissed the R-APC, saying the group was not a political party.

He added that if the premise of R-APC is that there is no division in the PDP to legitimize his defection, they must also know that there is no division in the APC.

“Even as you are looking at me, do I look perturbed? I have not heard the report. Because the reason why I think that is a rumour is that there is, at the moment, no division in the APC,” he said.

Read also: Declare Akpabio’s seat vacant, R-APC tells Saraki

“The APC is one family. If you hear about R-APC that was not really a political party that was not a division, has since been consumed in what they call Coalition of United Political Parties (CUPP). So, there is no division. And so, any defection from APC to PDP, we will like to declare those seats vacant.”

When asked if the All Progressives Congress (APC) senators had finalized plans to remove Saraki, Akpabio said he was yet to be briefed on any plan.

“I just came in from Ikot-Ekpene, where I decided with my people to join APC. I’m yet to be briefed on any of those items. I have not heard anything,” the senator said.

“And what I am hearing now is what you are telling me. But why don’t you wait for me to formally talk to you? I believe that when the national assembly resumes you will hear from me directly. So, exercise patience.”

 

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