Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Senator Godswill Akpabio, has continued to keep mum on his speculated presidential ambition.
He kept journalists and, indeed, Nigerians guessing on his rumoured ambition to contest the presidential election in 2023, as he simply asked newsmen in Abuja, “do you want me to run?”
Speculations are rife that the former governor of Akwa Ibom State is interested in joining the fray in 2023, just as several groups have been campaigning for him to that effect.
Asked to clarify his position on the issue when paid a courtesy visit on the National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Senator Abdullahi Adamu, on Thursday, Akpabio simply said he came to congratulate the chairman.
After a closed-door meeting with the APC national chairman, the minister, in response to a question on his ambition, said: “I came to congratulate the chairman and other members of the National Working Committee (NWC), on their emergence as national officers of our party and to wish them well on their new assignment for our party.”
Akpabio, who thanked the new leadership for upholding the rule of law on the chairmanship tussle in the Akwa Ibom State chapter of the party, said Nigerians still believe in the APC and would want the party to continue in office even beyond 2023.
When asked if he was interested in contesting for the office of the president in 2023 as being rumoured allover the country, Akpabio retorted, “Do you want me to run?”
Contrary to media reports that he had denied interest in the race, the response of Akpabio has continued to fuel speculations within the polity on his rumoured presidential ambition.
