Akpabio’s Defection, Not A Big Deal – Bassey

Gershom Bassey, the Senator representing the Southern Senatorial District of Cross River State, has said, on Tuesday, that Senator Godswill Akpabio is still a member of the People Democratic Party (PDP), despite the elaborate ceremony organised by the All Progressive Congress (APC) in Akwa Ibom to welcome the senator and former minority leader to the party.

Senator Bassey, while conversing with newsmen in Calabar, played down the defection move of the senator, describing it as a small issue.

“He has not defected on the floor of the Senate. His defection is outside the Senate. For now he has not carpet crossed in the Senate. So he has done nothing illegal or wrong for now. In the Senate he is still in the PDP. We have not seen his letter. He letter has not been read on the floor and his seat is still in the PDP fold. So as far as we know he is still a PDP man. Until he tells us in the chambers then we would cross that bridge.” he said.

Bassey, who also spoke on the issue of reconvening of the National Assembly, said that there was never an official notice to that effect.

“The news media may have gotten ahead of itself in announcing and reconvening because there was no official notice to that effect. Normally when the National Assembly reconvenes it is the clerk of the NASS that sends out the notice. That is the rightful person. I am sure there was no such information from his office. So I think that the media having listened to a press conference by I think by one of the House of Reps men.

“But if you listen carefully to that press conference he didn’t say anything definite but I think the media just took it that it was definite. There was no plan and there has never been any plan to reconvene. What they did after the meeting of the leadership last week was that they were going to consider it. There was no commitment towards any particular date for reconvening,” he said.

While also commenting on the seige laid against the National Assembly by the the Department of Security Service “I have condemned the invasion of the NASS. It is absolutely unacceptable. It is a coup against our democracy and that is the way we see it. I have called for a comprehensive independent enquiry into the incident. We have to get to the root of it. It is not enough to fire the DSS boss. I have seen the DSS man as a highly professional person.

“Anytime he has come to the NASS he has always been extremely professional in his presentations. So I don’t think that man would just wake up on his own and act like that. Someone must have given him instructions. So we need to get to the bottom of it. Or he was misled, one of the two, but we have to get to the bottom of it,” the Senator said.