APC, UPP members join PDP in Edo

• As Ize-Iyamu expresses satisfaction in PDP lawmakers

Ahead of  the  rescheduled Edo State governorship election on September 28, some members of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the United Progressives Party (UPP), have defected to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

The APC members were led by a former chairman of the Butchers Association of Nigeria (BAN), Mr Sunny Omokaro, while a former Women Leader of the UPP in  the state, Mrs Patience Ehigiator, led the UPP defectors.

The decampees were received into PDP by the state deputy chairman of PDP, Emma Ogbomo, who alerted the new PDP members to the activities of some people, who he said, are now going about purchasing voters’ cards.

Receiving his PDP membership card from Ogbomo, Mr Omokaro promised to galvanise support of butchers in the state for the election of Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu as the governor of Edo State.

He said that his decision to return to  PDP was based on the fact that he read the campaign manifesto of the party’s governorship candidate, Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu and that he was convinced that the printed material, otherwise known as the simple agenda, has practical blueprint that could be implemented to elevate  the  state.

Mrs Ehigiator, on her own, said their decision was informed by the fact that all over  the  state, voters are drumming up support for Pastor Ize-Iyamu, who they see as the governor that will restore the glory of state.

Meanwhile, the governorship candidate of PDP, Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu, has expressed delight at the representation offered by the party’s  lawmakers in the National Assembly, describing them as “worthy ambassadors of PDP.”

Ize-Iyamu said this in Benin City during the award of scholarships to 88 secondary and university students drawn from the seven local government areas in Edo South senatorial district by the lawmaker representing the area, Senator Matthew Urhoghide.

“I’m happy with the representation of our representatives. It is one thing to make promises before election, it is another thing to fulfill those promises when elected. Our representatives are fulfilling their electioneering promises.

“Not too long ago, he invited us to an empowerment programme, where many people benefitted. He promised to give scholarship to our young ones, who need assistance to pursue their academic goals.

A PDP senator has shown clearly what it means to have an elected representative in the Senate chambers.”

In his address to the students, Senator Urhoghide, who is the vice chairman of the Senate Committee on Health, said he had long wanted to serve his people, but he never got the oppourtunity, thanking  PDP for giving him the privilege to serve his people.