Defection: APC lashes out at PDP, says party has failed as opposition party

The All Progressives Congress (APC) on Thursday said it was not surprising that progressive-minded members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) have been defecting enmasse from the opposition party to the ruling party.

In a statement, Deputy National Publicity Secretary Yekini Nabena said for a party unable to run its Secretariat, pay staff salaries and its leadership grappling with a crisis of confidence, it would be unfair to expect its progressive-minded members to remain in the PDP which has failed woefully as the supposed “main” opposition party in Nigeria.

“It is disheartening that the PDP is pushing Nigeria into a largely one-party state. As a party that believes in democracy and progressive politics, the APC does not subscribe to this.

“We therefore challenge other opposition political parties to take the place of the PDP because even as the governing party, we recognize the importance of rigorous and intelligent interrogation of our policies and programmes by the opposition which the PDP has woefully failed to do,” APC said.

APC recently welcomed the Governor of Ebonyi State, David Nweze Umahi and Senator representing Adamawa North Senatorial District, Elisha Abbo.

According to the ruling party, “this is in addition to earlier return of many prominent Party members and leaders including, former PDP national chairman, Senator Barnabas Gemade; former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rt. Hon. Yakubu Dogara, Dr. Alex Otti among others.

“As a party, the APC welcomes new and returning entrants who have come to work with the President Muhammadu Buhari APC-led administration to improve the lives of Nigerians and overall better our dear country,” APC added.

The ruling party also appreciated the important work the APC Caretaker/Extraordinary Convention Planning Committee (CECPC) under the Chairmanship of Governor Mai Mala Buni is doing to reposition the party by accommodating all interests and ensuring peace, unity, fairness, equity, justice and inclusion and internal democracy in our great party.

It said the Governor Buni-led CECPC was working assiduously and had achieved great success in ensuring that the Party was repositioned, united, and “conducts the planned membership registration, update and revalidation exercise to produce a clean, credible and authentic national membership register ahead of the planned National Convention.”

“For now, the PDP and Alhaji Atiku Abubakar who has begun early 2023 campaign on the PDP’s presidential candidature he is poised to purchase, are engrossed with their Dubai meetings to plot their hallucinatory return to ensure their bid to selloff the remainder of our national assets. Nigerians are wiser,” APC said.