Akpabio had said that he was a man of peace that had no case to answer with the EFCC, adding that the young man who wrote petition against him to the commission could not prove his case
“Those petitions to the EFCC have been sorted out. As I stand today, I have not been charged to court because nothing was found against me,” Akpabio said.
However, the spokesman for the EFCC, Mr Wilson Uwujaren, while responding to Akpabio’s claim, said his case was still ongoing.
When asked by Punch if Akpabio was still under probe, the EFCC spokesman said, “EFCC does not close cases or give clearance to anybody.”
In 2015, Akpabio was accused of diverting over N100bn from the oil-rich state between 2007 and 2015, an allegation which he has denied.
Pray for Akpabio’s salvation— Secondus
National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Uche Secondus, has called for prayers for Senator Godswill Akpabio, saying he deserves pity.
“He deserves our pity because whatever would make somebody to choose bad for good is clearly one that he should be prayed for, for salvation especially given the fact that wolves are waiting for his arrival to devour him”.
Secondus stated this in a statement on Wednesday, in his reaction to Akpabio’s defection from the PDP to the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC.
The PDP chairman, who described the former Akwa Ibom State governor’s action as unfortunate, added that the lawmaker has by his action elected to work against his people.
In the statement issued by his media aide, Ike Abonyi, Secondus said he finds it very strange that Akpabio would team up with the ruling party at a time its chieftains were trooping into the fold of the PDP.
According to him, whatever caused Akpabio’s action must have been for self preservation and not borne out of any rational strategic political decision, adding that his decision does not enjoy the blessing of Akwa Ibom people.
The statement reads in part: “I cannot fathom any reason on earth Senator Akpabio should work against the tide, moving at opposite direction to a place every reasonable persons are escaping from.
“How on earth can anybody who has his eyes wide open be seen walking into danger knowingly?,” he asked.
The PDP chairman also condemned APC for arm twisting and intimidating people into their drowning boat ostensibly to ruin and disintegrate the person involved.
Calling on the people of Akwa Ibom to be wise and know when to turn their back from a leader directing them to danger, Secondus said: ”I urge you to remain focused and continue to give support to your hard working governor, Emmanuel Udom as he remains unrelenting in the delivering of democracy dividends to the people.”
It would have been honourable for Akpabio to go jail than to join APC—Senator Urhoghide
The Chairman of the Senate Committee on Public Accounts, Senator Matthew Urhoghide has said it would have been more honourable for Senator Godswill Akpabio to go to jail than dumping the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for the All Progressives Congress (APC).
Senator Urhoghide, who was reacting to the defection of the former Minority Leader, insisted that those of them who supported him to become minority leader were stabbed in the back by Akpabio.
Urhoghide, who spoke to journalists in Benin City, the Edo State capital, said instead of allowing himself to be blackmailed and intimidated, Akpabio should have just called the bluff of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and choose to go to jail.
He said: “If it is true Akpabio is going away, it is a stab on some of us; he stabbed us in the back and he knows where his place in history will be in this country. It is a stab, even if it is because the EFCC is intimidating and harassing him.
“It would have been more honourable for him to go to jail because those who run away from us, like Senator Joshua Dariye and went to APC was sentenced to 14 years imprisonment.
“If Akpabio was just an ordinary Senator, nobody would have bothered about him but because he was the Minority Leader, that is the leader of the PDP caucus in the Senate.
“He ought to have come back to us to say the mandate you gave to me to be your leader, I am hereby giving it back to you, I step down. We will get somebody else but for him to hold our highly revered position and then you go back to another political party, it is shameful.”