The member of the House of Representatives for the Calabar Municipal/Odukpani federal constituency, Bassey Akiba, has refuted rumours on social media regarding his alleged intention to switch allegiance to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
Despite being frequently seen engaging with APC members in the state, Akiba clarified during a recent interview that he has no intention of dumping the party which brought him to power.
Akiba told Leadership in Calabar on Wednesday that he remains a dedicated member of the Labour Party, regardless of his interactions with APC affiliates in his constituency.
He said: “There is bound to be a rumour in any political environment. For me, I am still a bonafide member of the Labour Party. 
“I have no intention to defect from the Labour Party. I am a representative of the people of my constituency.
“I relate with all categories of people in my constituency because all calibre of individuals elected me to represent all the parties.
“As far as my constituency is concerned, I am working with everybody irrespective of party affiliation.
“Irrespective of the fact that the Labour Party is the party that brought me into office, I am working with both the APC, PDP, Labour Party and non-party people residing in the constituency which I represent.
“I have no intention to defect to any other party. I remain a bonafide member of the Labour Party. I enjoy working with the Labour Party.”
Commenting on local government autonomy, he said, “It is unreasonable for anyone to claim that local government elections should lack autonomy.
“I strongly advocate for speedy conduct of local government elections to usher in council chairmen.
“I was a beneficiary of the local government system. I was a local government council chairman for Odukpani local government area.
“I know how important it is for local government council executive to take full charge of local government administration.
“It will be ridiculous for anyone not to support the conduct of local government elections just because he or she wants his cronies to remain in control of local government funds.”
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