Akpabio, however, interrupted Isah and rejected the suggestion that he had ever belonged to the PDP.
“I was never in PDP, my spirit might be there but my heart was never there. I have always been a progressive,” the Senate President said.
The declaration carried an added irony because a substantial part of Akpabio’s rise to national political prominence was under the PDP before his movement to the All Progressives Congress (APC) in 2018.
During his PDP years, Akpabio was also reported to have mocked the symbol of the then opposition APC, saying “only house boys carry brooms,” only to embrace the same broom when he crossed over to the APC.
Akpabio first rose to prominence in Akwa Ibom State politics after serving as commissioner under the administration of former Governor Victor Attah.
Between 2002 and 2006, he served in different portfolios, including Petroleum and Natural Resources, Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, and Lands and Housing.
He subsequently contested the PDP governorship primary, emerged as the party’s candidate and won the 2007 governorship election.
Akpabio was re-elected in 2011 and governed Akwa Ibom State for eight years on the PDP platform.
His administration promoted an extensive infrastructure programme under the slogan of “uncommon transformation,” a political branding that earned him the sobriquet, “Uncommon Governor.”
At the end of his second term as governor in 2015, he moved from the state executive to the National Assembly, again on the PDP platform.
He contested and won the Akwa Ibom North-West senatorial seat and was subsequently chosen by the opposition caucus as Senate Minority Leader.
Akpabio held the position until August 2018.
His years in the PDP also produced colourful political exchanges with the APC, then the ruling party at the federal level but an opposition force in Akwa Ibom.
Among the remarks associated with him during the period was his jibe that “only house boys carry brooms.”
That line would later acquire political irony.
On August 8, 2018, Akpabio formally joined the APC at a rally in Ikot Ekpene, Akwa Ibom State, after resigning as Senate Minority Leader.
At the rally, he publicly embraced the same political symbol he had once mocked.
“I accept this broom to sweep away poverty from your life,” Akpabio declared.
His movement to the APC ended a long period in which he had been one of the most recognisable PDP figures in the South-South.
Akpabio subsequently sought re-election to the Senate in 2019 but did not return to the chamber.
Later that year, President Muhammadu Buhari appointed him Minister of Niger Delta Affairs.
He remained in the Federal Executive Council until 2022, when he resigned to seek the APC presidential ticket.
At the APC presidential convention, Akpabio withdrew from the race and declared support for Bola Tinubu, who eventually emerged as the party’s candidate and won the 2023 presidential election.
Akpabio thereafter returned to the Senate after winning the Akwa Ibom North-West seat on the APC platform.
On June 13, 2023, he was elected President of the 10th Senate, completing a striking political journey from PDP governor and Senate Minority Leader to one of the highest-ranking office holders in an APC-controlled Federal Government.
