The publications, complete with 2019 presidential election campaign posters, according to Anietie Ekong, Special Assistant on Media to the Senate Minority Leader, are the handiwork of mischief-makers.
The statement, in part, reads:.
We wish to state categorically that Senator Akpabio has no ambition of contesting for the Presidency in 2019 and is not behind such campaigns. It is the handiwork of mischief makers.
It is instructive that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) which he belongs to has zoned the Presidency to the North by 2019. The South-South has had its shot at the Presidency through Dr Goodluck Jonathan who handed over to President Muhammadu Buhari barely one year ago. And it is politically impracticable in the present Nigeria to expect another South-South man to aspire to succeed President Buhari.
We implore well meaning Nigerians to ignore these publications as they do not emanate from nor have the blessing of Senator Akpabio. The mischief-makers should desist from actions that tend to heat the polity.
Senator Akpabio as the Senate Minority Leader is presently concerned with working with other law makers to enact legislation that will improve the lives and living standard of Nigerians. He should not be distracted by a phantom campaign as such ambition only exists in the imagination of the mischief-makers.