Ahead of the 2015 general polls, over three thousand (3, 000) All Progressives Congress, APC members on Tuesday defected to the Peoples Democratic Party, this is coming few days after the deputy governor of the state, His Excellency Engr. Tele Ikuru took the same decision.
Speaking during the exercise a frontline APC leader in Asari-Toru, Mr. Daturoko Obene said their decision to dump the APC for the PDP was due to the fact that it will be a taboo for an Ijaw son to betray his brother for another saying that as the leader of APC he consulted widely with his followers. He expressed further that even the leaders of the PDP has assured them of a soft landing and they are all happy to be back to their original party.
Also defecting was the immediate past councilor of ward six, Hon. Dimabo Tariah. He said APC has nothing to offer them in Asari-Toru and as such they took the decision to defect to the PDP which is on ground in the area and has better thing to offer to the people. He hailed the executives of the party in the area for accepting them back to their fold.
In his speech, Hon. Samuel Horsfall said he has come to welcome his colleagues back to where they really belong, the PDP. He assured them of a level playing ground as they have return “home”.
In his welcome speech, Hon. Opakirite Jackreece, the leader of PDP Asalga and the pioneer PDP chairman of the area said it’s a welcome development and they are welcoming them because they know them already that they are PDP members who only left the party due to pressure mounted on them by the council boss as at the time.
He stated further that their coming back will further strengthen the party to get their target of 93% total votes in the area. He assured that they are coming back in good faith if not they will not receive them.
In his remark, a prominent member of the party in the area, Alabo Dakorinama George Kelly, an unrepentant believer of the Jonathan and Wike project and one of the propellers of the PDP course in the state said he is very happy that his brothers have decided to jettison darkness in their lives and move into the PDP umbrella. He assured the decampees that they will carry them along, insisting Kalabari and Rivers State belong to the PDP. He promised to use every apparatus available to them to reclaim their stolen mandate insisting that PDP has always been and PDP shall be.
Afiye Dappa the PRO of PDP in the area said they will carry them along in the scheme of thing describing APC as a sinking boat. He predicted that more APC members will defect in the next few days.###
