Godswill Akpabio, a former governor of Akwa Ibom State, has stated that the only difference between the All Progressives Congress, APC, and the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, is the name.
Although Akpabio has stated that he would not return to the PDP, he is not one of those politicians who have stated that if they return to their old political party, they will die or commit suicide.
This was revealed by the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs during an appearance on Channels Television on Thursday evening, adding that he would remain in the APC and do his best to cooperate with whoever the party picks as its consensus candidate.
Asked what would be his reaction if the party chooses someone else as consensus candidate, Akpabio, who tried to dodge the question, said, “I’ll try my best to see if the person can work with me and all the ideas that I have for the betterment of this country, for the security of this country, I’ll lay them before that person.”
Asked if he sees the two leading political parties as the same, Akpabio said, “I wouldn’t say there’s a lot of difference between the APC and the PDP. Maybe just the name.
“In my personal opinion, this side is much more progressive and we thought that the other side were capitalists, but when you have a lot of the capitalists coming into APC, are you going to say that APC is still the same?
“For me, I think that the only difference is that one is in power and one is in opposition.”
Asked if that means he could easily return to the PDP, the Minister added, “I won’t be able to go back to the PDP personally.
“But I’m not one of those who said, ‘If I go back I’ll die’ or ‘should I go back I’ll commit suicide’, I’m not one of those people. For me, this is my last bus stop.”
Akpabio, a former Senate minority leader, had in August 2018, after weeks of speculation, dumped the PDP for the ruling APC, declaring himself “a progressive.”
This happened in less than 24 hours after he resigned his position as the Senate minority leader.