‘My heart was never there’ — Akpabio denies PDP membership

Senate President Godswill Akpabio has said he was never a member of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, despite records showing that he served as a PDP governor, senator and chairman of the party’s Governors’ Forum.

Akpabio made the remark during Tuesday’s Senate plenary while responding to a motion seeking to honour the late former Kogi State Governor, Ibrahim Idris.

The motion was sponsored by Senator Jibrin Isah, representing Kogi East.

While presenting the motion, Isah recalled that Idris was a member of the PDP and told Akpabio that they had both belonged to the party.

“The late Ibrahim Idris was a member of the PDP; I was there while you were there too, all of us were there,” Isah said.

Akpabio, however, interrupted the senator and rejected the reference to his membership of the PDP.

“I was never in PDP. My spirit might be there, but my heart was never there.

“I have always been a progressive,” he said.

Akpabio served as governor of Akwa Ibom State from 2007 to 2015 on the PDP platform and was chairman of the PDP Governors’ Forum from 2013 to 2015.

He also contested and won a Senate seat in 2015 under the PDP and was subsequently appointed Senate Minority Leader.

In August 2018, Akpabio formally moved from the PDP to the All Progressives Congress, APC, after resigning as Senate Minority Leader. Contemporary reports described the move as his defection from the PDP to the APC.

His comment during Tuesday’s plenary therefore contrasts with the documented record of his political career.