Nigeria: Akpabio's Ridiculous Denial of PDP

What the report says

This Day, as republished by AllAfrica, says Nigeria’s Senate President Godswill Akpabio recently rejected claims that he had ever been a member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). The exchange occurred during a Senate plenary session last Tuesday, when lawmakers were debating a motion to honour the late former Kogi State governor Ibrahim Idris.

According to the report, Senator Jibrin Isah, who sponsored the motion for Kogi East, referred to Idris as a PDP member and noted that Akpabio and others had belonged to the party at the time. Akpabio interrupted the remarks and said he had “never” been in the PDP, describing himself instead as a progressive. The article presents this as a denial that stands in tension with his past political record.

The piece then reviews that record, saying Akpabio previously served as a commissioner under a PDP-led government in Akwa Ibom State, was governor of the state from 2007 to 2015, chaired the PDP Governors’ Forum, and entered the Senate in 2015 on the PDP platform. It also says he served as Senate Minority Leader before defecting to the All Progressives Congress in 2018.

The article’s broader point is that Akpabio’s statement has drawn attention because it touches on party loyalty and political identity in Nigeria, where defections between parties are common.