A’Ibom is APC’s gateway to capture S/South – Buhari

President Muhammadu Buhari has disclosed that the All Progressive Congress (APC) intends to use Akwa Ibom state as a gateway to capture other South-South states for the party.

Buhari on the other hand said the oil-rich region stands to benefit a lot from the APC-led federal government if it stops playing opposition politics, adding that the region will gain in terms of social amenities.

The President said this at the weekend in Uyo, the Akwa Ibom state capital during a special solidarity rally in his honour and the Managing Director of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) and APC governorship hopeful, Dr. Nsima Ekere.

Represented by his Senior Special Assistant on National Assembly Matters (Senate), Senator Ita Enang, Buhari noted that Akwa Ibom was at the forefront of entrenching the party into other states of the South-South.

According to the President, he will do more for Akwa Ibom people. He added that in the South-South, the president is impressed with the solidarity in his honour.

“Akwa Ibom shall be the launching ground. From here APC shall launch to conquer Rivers, Bayelsa, Delta, Cross River, and other states of the South,” he said.

Former Akwa Ibom State governor, Senator Godswill Akpabio, described Gov. Udom Emmanuel-led government as a non-performing government.

He added that with Ekere as governor of the state, Uyo shall be connected again.

Ekere said when he is voted in as governor of the state, he will remain the Ibom International Airport after former governor Obong Victor Attah.

He noted that all those who had toiled for the state whether life or death shall be recognised by his government.

The governorship aspirant, who expressed disappointment over the People’s Democratic Party campaign which he said tended to poison people minds against him, maintained that he will serve a single term if elected governor.

He thanked the people of the state for the solidarity they have shown him, particularly the Akwa Ibom elders who bought the party’s governorship nomination form for him.