Nigerian Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki, Friday, paid a solidarity visit to the Governor of Akwa Ibom State, Mr. Udom Emmanuel.
Saraki arrived at the Akwa Ibom Airport, Uyo, to a rousing welcome by women of the state.
Reporting on Saraki’s visit on Twitter, one his media aides, Mr. Bankole Omisore, tweeted: “A rousing welcome for the President of the Senate, Dr. Abubakar @BukolaSaraki, by women at the Uyo Airport, during his solidarity visit to the Governor of Akwa Ibom State, Udom Emmanuel.”
Former Akwa Ibom Governor and the then Minority Leader of the Senate, Godswill Akpabio, defected from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressives Congress (APC) on August 8 — eight days after Saraki had crossed the opposite way. — sparking fears in the PDP that Akpabio’s defection could upset the party’s stranglehold on Akwa Ibom.
The current Governor, Mr. Udom, was brought into mainstream politics by his appointment as Secretary to the State Government (SSG) in 2013 by Akpabio.
He stayed back in the PDP, with majority of state assembly lawmakers recently pledging their allegiance to him rather than to Akpabio.
Akpabio’s defection and Udom’s refusal to follow suit has placed the two on opposite sides of the state’s politics, although Akpabio mainatined after his defection that had no personal probmel with the Governor.