About 7,000 members of the People’s Democratic Party, PDP, in Delta State, including two aides of Governor Ifeanyi Okowa, have dumped the party for the All Progressives Congress, APC, in the state.
The decampees, mainly from Oleh community and its environs in Isoko South local government area of the state, defected alongside Mr Lucky Arumare, Special Assistant to the Governor on Youths and Community Development, Mrs. Uyoyou Edhekpo, Special Assistant to the Governor on Women Mobilization.
They based their decision to dump the party on alleged high handedness and continued imposition of candidates by the leadership of the party, alleging that the PDP as a party portends “evil with fake ideologies”.
At the Oleh primary school ground where the decampees formally announced their exit from the PDP on Thursday evening, they vowed to mobilize against PDP in the state and the local government area, adding that their defection from the PDP was an indication of victory for the APC.
Receiving the defectors, the state chairman of the APC, Prophet Jones Erue boasted that Governor Okowa will be shown the way out during the 2019 general election, alleging that there has been decay in infrastructure and under-development in the state in the past three years.
According to him, “Governor Okowa is serious apology to Delta State. He will be shown the way out from Government House by Delta people through their votes. The people have concluded to enthrone an APC government come 2019 in Delta State. PDP has nothing to offer to the people of Delta State”.
Arumare, former aide to Governor Okowa, who spoke to journalists on behalf of the others, alleged that PDP operates as a “cult group”, adding that members who are not part of the “cult group” were not recognized in the scheme of things.
He said, “We have dumped PDP. We will not go back to the party that operates like a cult group. We were tired and moved into light where we can pursue our political career. We will shock the party come 2019 with our votes. APC has transparent ideologies we will operate with”.
Meanwhile, sources close to Chief James Ibori, a two-time former governor of the state hinted that all was now set for him to dump PDP for APC in the next few days, as a source who did not want to be mentioned in the print, quoted Ibori as saying: “PDP send me to jail, APC released me. We are taking steps very soon.”
