The Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, on Friday received Governor Umo Eno of Akwa Ibom State, hours after the governor defected from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
At Government House today, Mr Eno formally dumped the PDP for the APC in an event attended by several APC governors, including Hope Uzodinma of Imo, Francis Nwifiru of Ebonyi, Monday Okpehbolo of Edo, Babajide Sanwo-Olu of Lagos, Sheriff Oborevwori of Delta, and Bassey Otu of Cross River.
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Mr Akpabio was represented at the event by his wife, Unoma, who delivered a goodwill message on behalf of the Senate president.
“You shall fear no one. Because you have a lion in the person of President Bola Tinubu and you have a lion in the person of the Senate President, who do you fear? Nobody. Fear nobody.
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“God will protect you and your family. Don’t bother about what they would write. If it’s about what they would write, our own has filled the Geepee tanks up to 20, but we are not deterred,” Mrs Akpabio said.
Hours after the event, Mr Eno and other APC governors could be seen in a video clip circulating on Facebook disembarking from a White coaster bus into Mr Akpabio’s embrace at the Senate president’s private residence at Shelter Afrique Estate, Uyo.
Mr Akpabio’s former aide, Ata Ikiddeh, posted the video on Facebook.
“The Senate president welcoming the newest member of the APC and his brother governors,” Mr Ikiddeh wrote on Facebook.
“APC,” Messrs Akpabio and Eno chanted the APC slogan in the video before embracing themselves.
PREMIUM TIMES gathered that the APC is planning a reception later in the month for Mr Eno.
Akpabio, Eno’s relationship
Mr Akpabio is the second democratically elected governor of the oil-rich Akwa Ibom since the return of democracy in 1999, serving for two terms, from 2007 to 2015. He succeeded former Governor Victor Attah, after serving as commissioner.
Like Akpabio, Mr Eno served as commissioner in former Governor Udom Emmanuel’s cabinet before succeeding Mr Eno as governor in 2023.
Both Messrs Akpabio and Eno were elected governors under the PDP platform. While Mr Akpabio defected to the APC when serving in the Senate, Mr Eno became the first serving PDP governor in Akwa Ibom to defect to the APC, turning the PDP into an opposition party in the state for the first time in 26 years.
Mr Akpabio, an APC member, did not support Mr Eno’s governorship ambition in 2023, but Mr Eno was on hand in Abuja to congratulate Mr Akpabio hours after he emerged as the Senate president.
Since then, they have remained political allies, prompting Mr Eno to endorse Mr Akpabio and President Tinubu for reelection in 2027 and his subsequent defection to the APC today.
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