Defectors contract seekers – Ekweremadu
By Emeka Nze
Abuja
Senate Minority Leader, Senator Godswill Akpabio, has stated that more than 20 senators from the governing All Progressives Congress (APC) “are eager to join the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) only if the leadership of the party will expedite action to ensure that the crisis in the party is resolved.”
He said: “As I speak, so many senators from the opposing party are eager to join PDP. All they want is return of peace to the party, once that is done, I can assure that 20 senators are on their way to joining the PDP.
“This is a message to those who are thinking of defection, to retrace their steps because PDP is bouncing back to victory in 2019.”
Akpabio, who stated this at the 73rd National Executive Committee meeting of the party in Abuja yesterday, called on the PDP leadership to put its house in order, “else the party may risk losing the forthcoming gubernatorial elections in Anambra and Ekiti states, if the crisis in the party is not resolved.”
He, however, said it had not been all losses for the party, specifically speaking of the defection of three PDP senators to the APC, recalling that the party had gained other senators through elections and the court, especially in Nasarawa state.
Akpabio also called on other governors to join Governor Ayodele Fayose of Ekiti state, in speaking out against “the unjust policies of the ruling APC,” while urging the PDP Governors Forum to carry other stakeholders of the party along in their activities.
Also speaking at the event, Deputy Senate President Ike Ekweremadu, described those defecting to the APC as “contract and employment seekers” with no electoral value, adding that “at the appropriate time they will know who is who in the South-east.”
“Recently, we heard about a number of defections from PDP to APC. For me, coming from the South-east, they are doing registration of APC in the South-east, and some people are defecting. Also in the National Assembly few persons have left to the APC.
“My response is that to my brothers and sisters from the South-east who are defecting, they know the electoral value of each and every one of us. We should allow them get the contract they are looking for, to get employment they are looking for. At the appropriate time, we will know who is who in the South-east. There is nothing to worry about, we are completely in control,” Ekweremadu added.
Also speaking, the Minority Leader of the House of Representatives, Hon. Leo Ogor, said the APC “does not know what governance is all about as Nigerians have lost confidence in the entire system,” assuring that the PDP Caucus in the House was totally in support of the party.
In a similar remark, Chairman, PDP Governors Forum, Dr Ayodele Fayose, said, “Nigerians are tired of the APC change and wanted another change and if not for the constitution, they want it tomorrow.”
He wondered why some people were still joining the party which promised change, but had failed to deliver the change to Nigerians, saying “anything that is built on deception cannot stand on the test of time.”
He called on the party leaders to take their destiny in their hands, noting that Nigerians had become tired of the war against corruption “where a person who stole an elephant is pursuing the man that stole an ant.”
“Nigerians are tired of the story on corruption, especially, when people who claim they are fighting corruption are running after and chasing people who stole squirrels while they are stealing cows and elephants,” he said.
