Senator Godswill Akpabio, Minister of Niger Delta affairs, has chickened out of the planned Akwa Ibom North East senatorial re-run election.
He did in a letter addressed to the national chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Adams Oshiomhole.
Akpabio said a huge responsibility had been placed on him as a minister.
He said he couldn’t abandon a critical assignment placed on him by President Muhammadu Buhari in pursuit of a re-run election.
He, however, urged the ruling party to write the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), in line with Sections 33 and 35 of the Electoral Act, 2010, and submit a replacement to run in his place.
Akpabio’s withdrawal comes 24 hours after a foremost socio-political group, Akwa Ibom Liberation Movement (AILM) raised the alarm that the minister and the APC were plotting to substitute his name for another candidate ahead of the election.
The group raised the concern at a press briefing on Tuesday, December 10, at its secretariat in Uyo, the state capital.
The group’s secretary-general, Solomon Abasiekong, alleged that the APC was planning to use the court to substitute Akpabio for Luke Ekperikpe Ekpo, a former member of the House of Representatives.