DEPUTY Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, has said that defectors from the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), particularly in the South-East and the National Assembly, are doing so to improve their chances of getting contracts or employments.
Speaking at the expanded caucus meeting of the opposition party in Abuja, on Thursday, he said those who defected to the APC in the South-East had no electoral value, assuring that this would be made clear at the appropriate time.
Despite the defection, he said the PDP membership in the National Assembly had remained strong.
He said: “Recently, we have heard of a number of defections from the PDP to the APC. For me, coming from the South-East, they are doing registration of the APC in the South-East and some people are defecting.
“Nothing to worry about, we are completely in control in the South-East.”
Ekweremadu said those leaving the PDP now, thinking that the party is dead, are making a mistake as he observed that the party can only get stronger.
In his remarks, the newly elected chairman of the PDP Governors’ Forum and governor of Ekiti State, Mr Ayo Fayose, observed that the whole country is tired and already looking forward to another change because of the APC’s poor handling of the country.
Noting the challenges faced by the party members including “arrests, incarceration, intimidation, provocation by the party in government,” he assured that only change is constant.
Fayose regretted that people do not seem to learn from the past as he noted that “the same party that has been rejected by Nigerians is the party that people seem to be defecting to.”
The governor said if the PDP had a few committed people, it would readily oust the APC in 2019 as he noted that “anything that is built on deception cannot stand the test of time.”
Fayose criticised the anti-corruption fight of the ruling party, saying: “Nigerians are tired of the story of corruption especially when you find people that are fighting corruption busy stealing cows and are running after those people alleged to have stolen squirrel.”
The Governors’ Forum chairman said the PDP does not need a long slogan for the next election as all it needs to do is to remind Nigerians that the ruling party has caused hunger.
Fayose appealed to party leaders to work together while those aspiring for offices should do so with decorum.
He said he will continue to express his mind.
Meanwhile, a member of the Board of Trustees (BoT), All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), Chief Rommy Ezeonwuka, has warned the APC leadership to be wary of politicians defecting to the party.
Ezeonwuka gave the warning in Awka, Anambra State, on Thursday, in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), while reacting to the number of politicians who had indicated interest to run for Anambra governorship on the platform of APC.
He also told the people to be conscious of the motive of top politicians in the state defecting to APC, stressing that such politicians might work against APC if they failed to get its ticket.
Ezeonwuka also said that those who had defected to APC or scheming to defect were doing so because they believed they would get the backing of the Federal Government.
“I want to warn APC to be careful with those joining the party because they are not going there for the party’s interest but for their own interest.
“You may recall that these were the same people who did everything they could to stop APC from winning in Anambra, during the presidential election. I wonder when APC becomes their darling.
“These are also the elements that used the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) for their selfish interest and are now destroying it because they are not in the centre after former president lost election,” he said.
The APGA chieftain predicted that Governor Willie Obiano would win second term in the governorship election billed to hold later in 2017.
He said what Anambra needed now was influx of investors, adding that Obiano had created an environment conducive for successful business ventures in the state through the provision of security and policies that would enable the ventures to thrive.
Ezeonwuka said Anambra remained an APGA state and warned those who wished to destroy it to stop forthwith or incur the wrath of the masses.