6 APC Govs, 27 lawmakers ready to join PDP- Spokesman

…It’s not true, says APC
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has disclosed that it is concluding discussions with about six state governors and members of the National Assembly elected on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC) ahead of their defection to the PDP.

The party said it has already concluded discussions with six APC governors and 27 APC members in the National Assembly, who have also drawn their consultations and secured the mandates of their constituents to move to the PDP ahead of the 2019 general elections.

According to the PDP, discussions on control of party structures in the affected states and senatorial zones have also reached advanced stage and would be completed in a couple of weeks after which the governors and lawmakers will announce their defection to the PDP.

The party’s National Publicity Secretary, Mr Kola Ologbondiyan, who disclosed this in a statement on Wednesday, said however, in line with decisions reached at the discussions, the APC members in the National Assembly will defect to the PDP at the reconvening session in the two chambers.

He added that the development will increase the PDP majority in both chambers.

He also said that the party assured that all grey areas of the agreement, including issues of waivers and accommodation for participation in primaries, are being smoothened out by the former Governor Liyel Imoke-led PDP Contact and Integration Committee, which has been galvanising the alliances among stakeholders across other parties, including those from the APC.

The PDP also commended the spirit of tolerance, dialogue, accommodation and oneness of purpose that pervade the alliance among members.

He said, “The party expressed its readiness to take back control of power at the centre, as well as in our traditional states of Plateau, Niger, Adamawa, Kano, Bauchi, Nasarawa, Kebbi, Kaduna, Katsina, Kogi, Jigawa, Zamfara, Imo, Edo as well as South-West states of Oyo, Ogun, Osun, Ondo, Lagos states.

“These interests and movements from the APC to the PDP are indicators of the consensus by Nigerians to rally on the platform of the PDP to end the economic hardship, bloodletting, violence and infrastructural decay that have become the hallmark of the President Muhammadu Buhari-led APC administration, and return our nation to the path of unity, national cohesion and economic prosperity, which the PDP is known for”.

The PDP therefore urged all members and supporters to remain steadfast and wary of the gimmicks of the deflated APC, “which has resorted to sponsoring spurious publications filled with deceptions, fabrications and lies against our party”.

But the APC has debunked the claim of the PDP, saying that it is members of the opposition party that are concluding talks to join the ruling party.

Speaking in a telephone conversation with The Daily Times on Wednesday night on the matter, the Acting National Publicity Secretary of the APC, Mr. Yekini Nabena, said: “It is not true.

The PDP spokesman is probably daydreaming. It is the other way round. The true story is that it is the members of the PDP that are concluding talks to join the APC.”