By The immediate past Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Godswill Akpabio has withdrawn from the race for the presidential ticket of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
The former governor of Akwa Ibom State announced his withdrawal while addressing delegates at the ongoing special convention of the ruling party in Abuja.
Akpabio stepped down his ambition and threw his weight behind the APC National Leader and former Lagos State governor, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu.
Interestingly, this development comes barely 48 hours after the former Minister denied withdrawing from the race to back Tinubu, as reported by some media platforms.
A statement from his campaign team had read, “The attention of the Godswill Akpabio Campaign Organisation (GACO) has been drawn to a news item in an online news platform, purporting that our presidential hopeful and the choice of majority of Nigerians in the 2023 presidential race, Senator Godswill Akpabio, has stepped down for a particular aspirant.
“Ordinarily, we would have allowed this to slide, because we view it as the wishful thinking of some mischief makers hired by some politicians to misinform and misdirect the resolve of the teeming supporters of our aspirant from casting their votes for him at the party’s Special Convention for presidential primary, hence this response.
“We hereby state unequivocally that the Uncommon Transformer, Senator Godswill Akpuabio, is firmly in the race. He has not stepped down for any aspirant neither has he withdrawn from the presidential contest. He has no reason to withdraw neither is he thinking about it. He is in the race, not only to win the party’s sole ticket, but to also emerge the president of this great country in 2023 Insha Allah.”
