The attention of the leadership of the National Coalition for Strategic Impact and Unity (NACOSIU), has been drawn to the fraudulent use of the name, Akpabio for cheap political gain, by an online news platform, while reporting the shameless return of a certain politician to another party, with the headline: APC Collapsed (sic), In Akwa Ibom..As “Akpabio” Asks Supporters to Vote For PDP.”
We therefore, caution the said online platform and others who may want to toe the same line, to desist from the indiscriminate use of the name without clarity.
The group stated this in a statement jointly signed by Alhaji Abdulrahman Bello and Comrade Bassey Etim, National President and Secretary respectively.
According to the group, ” we are not against the movement of politicians to any party of their choice, because it is within their fundamental rights to so do. We are however, not comfortable with the fraudulent use of the name, Akpabio, with the intention to mislead the populace, APC members and supporters of Godswill Akpabio.
“At the local, state, national and international levels, whenever the name Akpabio is made mentioned of in the media, the attention immediately shifts to the former governor of Akwa Ibom State, Senator Godswill Akpabio.
Since the fraudulent use of that name in the said story, we have been inundated with calls from members of the APC in Nigeria and in the diaspora, hence the issuance of this statement.
Media houses are by this statement cautioned against indiscriminate use of Akpabio in their news item, so as not to misrepresent the personalities involved. Ignatius Akpabio is not the same as Godswill Akpabio. The headline of the story was deliberately intended to mislead the teeming supporters of Senator Godswill Akpabio and APC members.
