Society Gists

The atmosphere at the Ikot Ekpene Stadium, venue of the reception rally for Senator Godswill Akpabio who defected to All Progressives Congress was electrifying.

Major roads around the stadium were gridlocked as a result of human and vehicular movements even as vendors had a filled day raking in fortunes selling party paraphernalia to the faithful.

Many of the APC stalwarts in the state stayed away from the epochal events

Dignitaries at the event include all the members of the National Working Committee of the party, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, Adams Oshiomhole, Boss Mustapha, Lai Mohammed, Udo Udoma, Ahmed Lawan, Hilliard Eta, Iniobong Okopido, Nisma Ekere, Don Etim, John Eno, Ali Makana, Mohammed Sanni, Abdulahi Yahaya, Abdulahi Gumel, Uche Ndu, Magnus Abe, Kabiru Gaya, Ali Ndume, among others.

Secretary to the federal government, Boss Mustapha, who stood for his boss, President Muhammadu Buhari, extolled the sterling qualities and achievements of Senator Akpabio , as the former governor of the state, saying that the South South geo-political would be swept away by APC with his coming into the party.

‘’The entire South South has been taken over the APC. Things are about to change and old thngs have passed away and more new things are coming’’, he said

Mustapha knocked the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), saying that even if all their aspirants were combined together, none of them was capable of defeating Buhari in the presidential polls come 2019.

‘’I know the aspirants in the PDP. I don’t have anything against anyone of them. Some of them are friends and I have worked with some of them. And If I have my way I will ask INEC to allow all of them to compete, but Buhari will defeat them. Buhari is the only candidate that can pull 10 million as head start. So, why do you want a government that can only give 300,000, that is a waste’, he said.

National leader of the party, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, while commending Akpabio for dumping the PDP, also lampooned the party for 16 years of sleaze and bad government.

‘’Today we are sharing in our vision. PDP has no vision for 16 years and we gave them opportunity to change Nigeria and they failed. They believe in sharing , looting of the treasury. Nobody can account for all the accounts we have in Nigeria, but Buhari came and said we should have a single treasury account.

‘’It is a war of ideology between the conservative and progressives. We believe in doing the good work for the people, they believe in believe in looting. They are the leaders of yesterday; we are the leaders of today, tomorrow and the years to come. They believe in sharing, we believe in educating the people and in the political renaissance of the country’’.

For his part, National Chairman of the party, Adams Oshiomhole, also taunted the PDP, describing it as a torn umbrella in the face of the current ‘’terrible political weather’’, noting that the party misruled the country for 16 years.

The former governor of Edo State who described Akpabio as an ‘uncommon defector’ also took a swipe at the Senate President, Bukola Saraki , describing him as lacking the quality to lead the Red Chamber and urged Akpabio to use his wealth of experience to bear in the running of the party in the state.