‘I was never in PDP’: Shock as Akpabio denies party membership

Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, shocked his colleagues on Tuesday as he openly denied ever being a member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

Describing himself as a “progressive”, he gleefully declared that he had always played progressive politics in his life.

“I was never in PDP, my spirit might be there but my heart was never there.

“I have always been a progressive”, he told the Red Chamber.

Akpabio served as the governor of Akwa Ibom State from 2007 to 2015. He was also the Chairman of the PDP Governors’ Forum before he later won an election to the Senate in 2015.

Akpabio was the Minority Leader of the Senate from 2015 to 2018 while serving as PDP senator.

He held the position after leaving office as Akwa Ibom governor in May 2015, and served until his defection from the PDP to the All Progressives Congress (APC) in August 2018.

But, on Tuesday, the Senate President denied ever being part of the PDP.

What led to the denial was a motion of urgent public importance raised by Kogi-East Senator, Jibrin Isah, seeking to honour the memory of the late Alhaji Ibrahim Idris.

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Idris, a former governor of Kogi State, passed away on September 20, 2026.

While seeking to move the motion, Senator Isah tried to remind Akpabio that they (Akpabio, Idris and himself) used to be members of the PDP.

“The late Ibrahim Idris was a member of the PDP; I was there while you were there too, all of us were there”, Isah added.

He further stated that the late Idris was the governor of Kogi State from May 29, 2003 to January 27, 2012, “the longest in the history of the state.”

However, Akpabio interrupted him and insisted that he was never a member of the PDP.

The Senate eventually passed Isah’s motion and observed a minute’s silence in honour of the late governor.