More defections from Rivers APC despite court-assisted gains

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8 years ago

Despite some recent court-assisted electoral gains in the state and National Assemblies election in Rivers State, the All Progressives Congress APC has continued to lose thousands of its members to the People Democratic Party PDP in streams of defections that seems not ready to end.

The APC now controls two out of the 3 senatorial seats in the state with the recent ruling by the Court of Appeal upholding the election tribunal judgment that Andrew Uchendu is the winner of the December 10, 2017 re-run election for the Rivers East Senatorial District.

This latest victory is in addition to that of Rivers Southeast Senatorial District earlier awarded to Sen. Magnus Abe, the Tai/Oyigbo/ Eleme Federal Constituency won by Barri Mpigi and some other seats both at the national and the state assemblies.

But despite all these, the popularity of the APC in Rivers State seems to be dwindling further as thousands of their supporters, led by leaders of the party at various levels continue to leave the party and defect to the PDP.

Just last weekend as the APC was still celebrating the Andrew Uchendu victory, hundreds of persons claiming to be members of the APC in Ogba/Egbema/Ndoni Local Government were leaving the APC for the PDP.

The decampees were led by Sheriff Onyenweibeya, ward 11 chairman and his vice Kingsley Obinye.

At a formal ceremony at Okwuzi in ONELGA, leader of the defectors said the leader of the APC deceived them to believe that the party will offer them positive change.

“My name is Sherriff Onyenweibeya, ward 11 chairman APC. It may interest you to know that the man standing before you has been a ward chairman, right from the PDP. We were the foundation members, I have to apologise to the PDP family. We have offended our family by being deceived by the party which brought suffering, death, hardship to this country. They said they came to change the nation for good but we found out that they came to kill the people of Nigeria.”

Chairman of the PDP in Rivers State, Felix Obuah formally received the decampees into the fold of the PDP and promised them equal opportunities.