The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has dismissed as false a report in the local media that Governor Udom Emmanuel was planning to defect from the party to the All Progressives Congress (APC) ahead of the 2023 general elections.
Mr Emmanuel, who is doing his second term as governor, has also denied the report.
“Akwa Ibom is not like any other state, we are people of integrity and cannot be swayed or distracted from our responsibilities by false speculations,” the governor said on Tuesday in Oron where he was inaugurating roads constructed by his administration.
“Akwa Ibom is PDP and PDP is Akwa Ibom and all the development (projects) in Akwa Ibom are by the PDP government.”
In a statement issued on Tuesday, the spokesperson of the PDP in Akwa Ibom, Borono Bassey, said Mr Emmanuel remained a committed leader of the PDP in Akwa Ibom.
“The intendment of this pernicious rumour which unfortunately has arrived at the most inappropriate of moments is targeted at misleading Akwa Ibom people and perhaps causing an unnecessary agitation in our polity.
“As a party, we wish to affirm that Mr Emmanuel, a leader with a towering record of integrity and performance, remains a very committed and dutiful leader of the Peoples Democratic Party in Akwa Ibom State,” Mr Bassey said in the statement.
He urged people in Akwa Ibom to disregard the “rumour.”
“As a party, we reiterate that no performing PDP Governor would leave our Party to join a party that has visited untold hardship on Nigerians.
“Akwa Ibom State, under the leadership of Gov. Udom Emmanuel is marching forward with the PDP and no form of hallucinations from men of the Broom-wielding coven can change this resolve,” the PDP spokesperson said.
The rumour that Mr Emmanuel was planning to move to the APC has been fueled by the recent defection of Governor Ben Ayade of Cross River State from the PDP to the APC.
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