The Senate Minority Leader, Senator Godswill Akpabio, has dissociated himself from a publication in the social media campaigning for his alleged presidential ambition in 2019.
He said he was not in any way connected to the campaign as he had no such ambition.
Describing the publication as the work of some mischief makers, he said he was aware of the zoning of the Presidency to the North by his party, the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, hence he could not have gone against that.
In the statement which was issued by his Special Assistant on Media, Anietie Ekong, Akpabio said Nigerians should disregard the publication.
The statement reads: “The attention of the Senate Minority Leader, Senator Godswill Akpabio, has been drawn to publications in the social media about his purported posters campaigning for the Presidency in 2019.
“We wish to state categorically that Senator Akpabio has no ambition of contesting for the Presidency in 2019 and is not behind such campaigns.
“It is the handiwork of political jobbers and mischief makers.
“It is instructive that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) which he belongs to has zoned the Presidency to the North by 2019 and Senator Akpabio as a loyal member of the party stands by that decision.
“Also stakeholders from Akwa Ibom North West Senatorial District, which Chief Akpabio represents have at various fora expressed their desire to return the Senator to the Red Chambers for a second term and are working assiduously towards that.
“We implore well meaning Nigerians to ignore these publications as they do not emanate from nor have the blessing of Senator Akpabio. The mischief-makers should desist from actions that tend to heat the polity.
“Senator Akpabio as the Senate Minority Leader is presently concerned with working with other law makers to enact legislation that will improve the lives and living standard of Nigerians. He should not be distracted by a phantom campaign as such ambition only exist in the imagination of the mischief-makers.”
