The Governor of Akwa Ibom State, Emmanuel Udom, has responded to rumours that he was contemplating joining Senator Godswill Akpabio in the All Progressives Congresses, APC.
The Governor said he had no intention of dumping the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP.
Gov. Udom recently declared to run for second term on the platform of the PDP few days after a former Senate minority leader, Akpabio joined the APC.
Speaking with Punch, Governor Udom said the defection of the former Governor did not come to him as a surprise, but admitted that it was unexpected.
Responding to the impression in some quarters that the lawmaker has a hold on Akwa Ibom and that he (Udom) could have contemplated joining him in the APC, the Governor said, “That is not possible. I’m not that kind of politician.
“Remember I have declared under the PDP. There is a difference between those who call themselves professional politicians and professionals in politics.
“I have a background and I can’t throw all those into the dustbin. We are men of impeccable character and loyalty, and we don’t deceive our people.
“Beyond that, I don’t see any other party that can give me the platform of my life principles more than PDP and I stand by it.
“That is the only party that can allow me exercise those principles and core values and the training I have; I don’t know of any other party.
“The only party I have is PDP and it’s like a family. Akwa Ibom is PDP and PDP is Akwa Ibom. What they saw during our declaration must have spoken to those who have doubts, compared to the crowd that those other people had
“Those people in their crowd were not from Akwa Ibom. They were from another state and that was why when they were being greeted in our local dialect, they couldn’t know how to respond, including the people on the stage, compared to the crowd we had on Friday. Before you mentioned any greeting in the local dialect, the place erupted.”
Asked what his initial reaction was when the Senator decamped, Udom added, “I didn’t see it coming and it wasn’t a great surprise.
“You see, we are a well trained people and trained minds don’t reason like untrained minds.
“If you are a trained mind, the unexpected are expected to happen at an unexpected time.
“However, what you do as a trained mind at that point in time is what matters most.
“And you could see at this period that we are calm and we are not bothered about it. No cause for alarm.
“Everywhere in the world, not only in Akwa Ibom or in Nigeria, people defect from one party to another, but the cause for concern is the volume of what people say about individuals that have nothing to do with the main cause of the defection.
“We all know what is happening in this country today; why some people are defecting, which I might not be able to say in the public, but people can deduce. And you know people will always look for their own reasons to add and they would look for another person to be painted black.”
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