Their departure is a space for others to fill – Martins
Not less than 100 members of the 10 wards executive, including some executives at the local government level of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Egor local government area of Edo State yesterday defected to the All Progressives Congress (APC) ahead of the governorship election slated for September 21, 2024.
They were led by a leader of the PDP in the area and a member of the Legacy Group who also publicly tendered his resignation letter from the PDP, Hon Nosa Adams, the Vanguard reports.
The new members were received by the leaders of the APC led by the Acting State Chairman, Emperor Jaret Tenebe and other members of the State Working Committee at the new party secretariat.
Other party leaders present were the yet to be inaugurated Director General designate of the APC Campaign Council, Sen Matthew Uroghide, the governorship candidate of the party, Sen Monday Okpebholo and his running mate, Hon Dennis Idahosa, Sen Adams Oshimhole, former deputy governor, Lucky Imasuen, the husband of the National WomanLeader of the party and a leader of the APC in Egr, Pius Alile among others.
Okpebholo said the defection has brought a new era to the politics of the state “Edo is witnessing a new era, development is what we are after and that is what we are going to do. Edo is the place for all of us and so we must develop it, we have no other home than Edo and we must fix it.”
On his part, Adams said they would ensure victory in the election, “This is not the day to talk much, in the last election we defeated our opponent with 17,000 votes, in this election we are joining APC and we must make the difference Akpakomiza and Denco must win the election with not less than 20,000 votes and from tomorrow we will join our brothers and start a tour of the wards for integration, after we have won, we will come and make speeches.”
In his remarks, the Leader of the party in the state, Oshiomhole said the new coalition would bring victory to the party and renewed development to Egor local government area. “With the transparent manner that Adams has presented the decampees from the ten wards, just the leaders, then who is left in Egor PDP?
“I want to assure you and those who came with you that you are not a stranger and cannot be treated as one, you will bring on board, your wealth of experience and determination to do what you have always done. The way you have worked for us to be defeated, now you shall work in the same way for us to win. With you, we are reinjecting a lot of energy into the APC on the basis of one man one vote.”
PDP Reacts
Reacting to the defection, the Deputy Director General, Asue/Ogie Campaign Management Council, Rev Olu Martins said the PDP in Egor has received more since their defection and that they have created more space for others.
He said “Adams has always been part of what they call Legacy, as a matter of fact, he was one of the founding fathers of Legacy especially in Egor local government, he is a known ally of Chief Dan Orbih. We have advocated that if you cannot be a team player, then go to a political party where you can play the kind of politics that you want.
“Fortunately, Ward 2 where he is from is like the hot bet of political activities in Egor, that Ward currently has the Director of Operation in Egor for the PDP so we are not unmatched and as I speak to you, we have over 300 members of the Labour Party who have just been received into the part by the leader of the party in the local government, joined by the House of Assembly member.
“It is a season of what I call political transfers. We now know that he is in the opposition, he is in the APC, we now know how to tackle him and since he has left, he has created space for others to come and more others than the ones he took away have come to join us.”
