No fewer than an estimated 20,000 members of the Peoples Democratic Party in Zone A of Niger State have defected to the All Progressives Congress as the party’s governorship candidate in Niger State, Alhaji Abubakar Bello, rounds off his campaign tour of the area.
APC spokesman, Mr. Jonathan Vatsa, made this known in a statement in the Mokwa area of the zone on Monday, the PUNCH has learnt.
Vatsa said the party was overwhelmed by the crowd of defectors from the PDP from various wards in the area.
He said the people of the area had complained bitterly to the APC standard bearer over the years of neglect by the PDP administrations in the state, adding that “the people said they were tired of 16 years of deceit.”
He described the popularity of APC in the area and the entire state in general as “the broom revolution,” claiming that the PDP was now a shadow of itself in the zone.
Vatsa explained that while APC had carried its campaigns to the nooks and crannies of the state in view of its popularity, the PDP had stopped its campaigns at local government headquarters because the people had discovered what he described as the bulk of failed promises over the years.
Counting the gains of the APC in zone A, the spokesman said over 5,000 defectors from the PDP in Edati, 5,000 in Mokwa and another 3,000 in Kutigi joined the APC in the area.
“When we took stock of the PDP members coming to join us in each local government that constitute zone A; we realised that we got 3,000 in Lapai, 3,000 in Agaie, 4,000 in Katcha, 3,700 in Bida which has been our stronghold. The remaining ones in the PDP in Bida have now joined us,” he said.
He however distanced APC from attacks on PDP campaign train in parts of the state, explaining that those who attacked PDP were its aggrieved members.
“We preach peace wherever we go,” Vatsa added.
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