SAN FRANCISCO, August 08, (THEWILL) – Two commissioners in the Akwa Ibom State Government who received Senator, Godswill Akpabio, at the airport in Uyo on Tuesday have been sacked by Governor Udom Emmanuel.
The sacked commissioners are Victor Antai of Culture and Tourism, and Ibanga Akpabio of Labour, Productivity and Manpower Planning, a relative of the senator.
THEWILL recalls that on Tuesday resigned from office as the Senate minority leader and is set to defect from the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
After his visit to APC leaders, including traveling to London to meet with President Muhammadu Buhari who is on a 10-day vacation, the senator landed in the Akwa Ibom International Airport, Uyo, on Tuesday and was received by te commissioners and other top politicians in the state.
He is expected to be officially received into the APC on Wednesday at a political rally in Ikot Ekpene.
A statement issued on Tuesday evening by the Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Emmanuel Ekuwem, said Antai and Akpabio were sacked from the State Executive Council because of their “reluctance to comply with good governance processes of government”.
The statement asked the sacked commissioners to handover to the permanent secretaries in their respective ministries before the close of work on Wednesday.
Other dignitaries who graced the senator’s reception in Ukana, Essien Udim Local Government Area, were the House of Representatives members, Emmanuel Ekon (Abak federal constituency) and Emmanuel Akpan (Ikot Ekpene federal constituency), as well as a state lawmaker representing Essien Udim, Nse Ntuen.
