The President of the Senate, Godswill Akpabio, on Friday described the Minister of the Federal Capital territory, FCT, Nyesom Wike as the National Leader of the winning faction of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP.

Akpabio made the remark while urging Nigerians to ignore Wike’s comment that he was an uncommon performer as a governor under the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, stressing that he is now an ancestor.

He spoke during the commissioning of access roads to the Renewed Hope Cities and estates in Karsana district of the FCT to mark President Bola Tinubu’s third year in office.

Earlier, Wike in his introduction described Akpabio as a uncommon performer while he was the governor of Akwa Ibom State under the PDP.

Responding, Akpabio said: “Members of the Working Committee of the All Progressives Congress, please ignore the comment of the minister that I was an uncommon performer in the PDP, he is not talking about the PDP of today and you need to know that at that time there was no APC.

“APC was born in about 2014 and by that time I was already seven and a half years as a governor and that’s why I sometimes refer to myself as an ancestor.

“I was sworn into office way back in 2007 and there was no APC then, a progressives minded person like me should be belong to a progressive family, so therefore, when the APC came to be; I discovered that that was my group and was in the wrong party called the PDP, so I exit early and joining the progressives, shortly after that you now know what happened to PDP.

“They fragmented, I don’t know how you are going to put it today but I recognize you as the National leader of the winning faction of the PDP because you are doing well.”

Former National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress, Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, has dismissed reports that he has defected to the Nigeria Democratic Congress, NDC, insisting that he remains a committed member of the APC.

Ganduje described as false and politically motivated the posters circulating on social media alleging that he had left the ruling party.

He said, “The claims were part of a deliberate misinformation campaign aimed at misleading the public, creating confusion among APC supporters, and generating unnecessary political speculation.”

In a statement issued by his former Commissioner for Information and Chief of Staff, Muhammad Garba, the former Kano State governor stressed that $he has never considered leaving the APC, a party he once led as National Chairman”.

He maintained that reports linking him to the NDC lack both political and logical basis.

Ganduje further stated that the APC remains the country’s largest political party and continues to gain support under the leadership of President Bola Tinubu.

He reaffirmed his commitment to working with the party’s leadership to advance the President Bola Tinubu administration’s Renewed Hope Agenda.

The former APC chairman also revealed that those responsible for producing and circulating the alleged defection posters had been identified. He warned that legal action would be taken if the materials were not withdrawn and the spread of the claims did not stop immediately.

He urged party members, supporters and the general public to disregard the posters, insisting that they do not reflect his political position or intentions.

Kenneth Okonkwo, the spokesperson for the presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress, ADC, Atiku Abubakar, has refuted claims of opposing the selection of Rotimi Amaechi as the party’s vice presidential candidate.

He further clarified that no individual from the South-East was qualified to be chosen as Atiku’s vice presidential candidate as they were not registered members of the ADC prior to the primary election.

Okonkwo had rejected the Atiku-Amaechi ADC presidential ticket after the party made the announcement.

Okonkwo criticized the ADC’s decision to select the former Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, from the South-South as Atiku Abubakar’s running mate, asserting that the position should have been allocated to someone from the South-East.

Okonkwo also vowed not to campaign for Atiku if his running mate is not from the South-East.

However, speaking on Channels TV on Thursday, Okonkwo was asked if he still holds that view. He responded, “I do not know where you got that from.”

Asked if he supports Rotimi Amaechi as the vice presidential candidate of the ADC, he added, “First and foremost, he is the choice of the party and everybody that is a loyal party member.

“I said I expected that the Vice President should come from South-East. It was a geopolitical expression, not the person of anybody, and of course I understood the limitations within the Electoral Act 2026 Remember, for anybody to be eligible to contest, you must have been a member 21 days before the primary, so the people from the South-East that I would have preferred, strictly speaking, were not even registered members, so we are restricted.

“Rotimi Amaechi, Hayatu-deen, Atiku Abubakar and Peter Obi, these were the people that were showing interest to contest the presidential election, and then when Peter Obi left, South-East was thrown into confusion, and you have to pick a vice president that has elicited interest that he wants to embark on the onerous duty of campaigning around the nation.

“Amaechi got up to 500 and something voters in the primary, you cannot alienate them. What I was agitating is that even if you have constraints, you ought to get the people of South-East and sit down with them and say, look, these are my constraints. Then they will know what they will present to their people.

“Atiku was not in Nigeria when the party made the announcement, he traveled, so when he came in, he did the needful. If you recall, and that is the beauty of this great democrat. When he came in, everything was halted. When he came in, he went into dialogue, called all the parties.”