Former Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) president, Olumide Akpata, has refuted speculations linking Governor Godwin Obaseki to his governorship aspirations, emphasizing the baselessness of such claims.
Speaking at the 2023 Press Week award ceremony in Benin on Saturday, Akpata clarified, “That I am sponsored by Godwin Obaseki is an unfounded and baseless rumour. It was bandied around by two irresponsible online blogs that I shall be going after with all the venom that I can muster because my approach to fake news is that you nip it in the bud and you deal with it before it festers.”
He went on to address allegations of attempting to buy the LP ticket with cash, dismissing such accusations as displays of immaturity.
Akpata asserted, “My relationship with the governor has never been hidden so it is only politicians who don’t know how to agree to disagree that quickly conclude that when two contenders sit together, they must belong to the same camp.”
Quest Times further gathered that while highlighting his family’s honourable history in politics, he stated, “The family I belong to are honourable people. Those who know the Akpata family in Benin know that we are honourable people.”
“If I cannot go into politics on my own, and get the prize that I am looking for I will stay at home. I am a successful lawyer. Politics is not my job. It is out of interest that we have come to the rescue of this state and Nigeria. I cannot be the hireling of anybody.”
Addressing the claims of being a money bag, Akpata countered, “As the Americans would say, I put my money where my mouth is. The LP is not as financially buoyant as other parties, so all of us who are true party members must come together and help our party. I shrug off the claim that I am a money bag. However, politics is expensive all over the world.”