10th Senate: Don’t Judge me by my performance in Buhari’s cabinet – Akpabio

Senator Godswill Akpabio, former Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, has asked Nigerians not to judge him by his record as a member of President Muhammadu Buhari’s cabinet.

According to PUNCH, Akpabio said this in an interview with journalists in Abuja this weekend.

The senator-elect, who is eyeing the presidency of Nigeria’s senate, had resigned in 2022 to contest the presidential ticket of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).

He had stepped down for Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, who won the ticket and eventually emerged winner of the 2023 presidential election.

“I do know that I have not changed in any way. I am somebody God has given the opportunity to be an uncommon transformer wherever I go. I will not like to be judged by ministerial appointment for Niger Delta, which everybody knows is a problematic place,” Akpabio was quoted to have said in the interview.

“But I would like to be judged by my record as a lawyer of 36 years, Commissioner of six years and a governor of eight years.

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He promised that if elected Senate President, Nigerians he would sustain the January-December budget cycle initiated by the 9th National Assembly.

According to him, the introduction of the January-December budget cycle was one of the major success stories of the outgoing Assembly.

Akpabio said, “If given the opportunity by my colleagues to lead the 10th Assembly, one of the programmes I will like to sustain would be the January to December budget cycle

“The Introduction of that is what I commend the 9th National Assembly for very seriously because it allows for proper planning and allows the government to take off on a good note and also help bring about foreign direct investment into the country.

“So I think that will be sustained by the 10th Senate and that is whether I am Senate President or not. I believe working with my colleagues, we shall sustain it, because it is a collective idea. Everybody is important.”

Akpabio was first elected to the Nigerian Senate in 2015 from where he became the Minority Leader on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (APC) but later defected to the ruling party.