Following his victory over former Akwa Ibom Governor, Godswill Akpabio, Christopher Ekpenyong was on Thursday sworn in to office as the senator to take over the seat previously occupied by the minister.
According to a statement by the senate, Ekpenyong, who contested and won on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), was administered an oath by the deputy clerk of the Senate, Musa Abdullahi, in the presence of the Senate president, Ahmad Lawan.
He is now to represent Akwa-Ibom North-West district in the National Assembly.
Speaking after being sworn in, the former Akwa Ibom deputy governor described Akpabio as an ‘uncommon failure,’ who “did nothing” when he was governor of the state.
“I’m ashamed of him. If he was investing, go to Akwa Ibom; there is nothing. When you talk of uncommon, what is uncommon or is it because he is uncommon failure?
“The fact that he became a governor was by accident and that is because our electoral process is porous. Thank God I have come to meet the discussion on the electoral act amendment because I am going to contribute,” he said.
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) member accused Akpabio of trying to subvert the rerun poll.
“He felt he could go to the election without resigning, then he flew a kite that he is not contesting but he failed to know that I am veteran in this game,” Ekpenyong said.
“We went to the election and I defeated him, I had 19,000 plus votes and he had 6,000 in his local government.”
