Ambitious and hopeful, Senator Godswill Akpabio, a former governor of Akwa Ibom State, expressed his anticipation for an increase in support from lawmakers in his bid to become the President of the 10th Senate.
Currently backed by the ruling All Progressives Congress, Akpabio shared his expectations during a courtesy visit to Governor Babajdie Sanwo-Olu of Lagos State on Sunday.
During the meeting, Akpabio stated, ‘Today, we are about 69 in number and it is still growing. We believe that by the time we get to June, we should expect this group to rise to about 85 to 86. All I know is that we are going to win.’
He further assured, ‘I want to assure, sir, that the people you see seated here are those shunning dollars and shunning pounds and shunning naira. The Senate is composed of men and women of integrity. We will not allow Nigeria to be bought. If leadership in the country goes to the highest bidder, I don’t think those like the late President Yar’Adua would have ruled Nigeria. Even the former President, Olusegun Obasanjo, was not even available, I think he was somewhere else, I think Yola, when he became President.’
Akpabio emphasized that the acquisition of leadership should not be driven by money, saying, ‘So, it’s not a function of money. We’ve seen money politics play out, even though we’ve not seen it play out in the 10th Senate yet. As a prelude to the inauguration, we’ve seen what is going on. We condemn it and we believe that integrity should come to play.’
Governor Sanwo-Olu welcomed the lawmakers to Lagos and encouraged them to foster collaboration with the incoming administration in the 10th Senate. He praised their dedication to their constituents and stated, ‘I believe that you are best in class because the last election showed that you have to be good to your people for you to emerge as successful. So, I can tell you that whatever part of the country you have emerged from, you are best in class and your people must have seen something outstanding in all of you. And that brings me to the fact that you cannot bring down that trust and that expectation from your people.”
