Prominent names in the leadership of the state chapter and thousands of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) supporters yesterday dumped the party for the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
APC National Secretariat, led by the party's Deputy National Chairman, North, Senator Lawan Shaibu and APC National Secretary, Mai Mala Buni, had to relocate to Maiduguri to receive the defecting politicians.
The state chairman of APC, Ali Bukar Dalori, stated the defection of the PDP stalwarts marked a new beginning for the APC towards a greater political future.
APC National Secretary, Buni, described the event as a watershed in the annals of the political history of Borno and the North-East in general. “Those who dumped the PDP for the APC have made the best decision, as the APC under President Muhammadu Buhari is a moving train that is ready to take Nigerians, especially those in the North-East to the Promised Land,” he stated.
The party’s Deputy National Chairman, Shuaibu, informed the defecting politicians, to whom he later presented APC flags, that they would be given fair treatment in the party as long as they were ready to work with President Muhammadu Buhari in rebuilding Nigeria.
Speaking on behalf of the defecting PDP politicians, Barr Muhammed Kumalia, one time Minority Leader in the House of Representatives between 1999 and 2003, stated his decision to join the APC was more of a homecoming.
Kumalia, who was once the gubernatorial candidate of the defunct Action Congress, AC, in the 2007 general elections, before he pitched tent with the PDP stated he has led thousands of his supporters to join the APC “because it is the new thinking of our people, and as politicians, we must always strive to work and do what is in the prevailing interest of our people.”
Kumalia urged APC leaders in Borno State to live up to their promise of giving everybody a level playing field in the party, even as he emphasised that he has not joined the APC because of one personal or pecuniary interest, but for the overall interest towards moving the state forward.
Those that defected include former National Treasurer of the PDP, Alhaji Lawan Kareto, former PDP House of Representatives’ member, Hajia Kaamuna Khadi, former PDP state chairman, Alhaji Kolo Bukar and PDP House of Representatives’ candidate in the last general elections, Hon Muhammed Adamu, amongst others.