The All Progressives Congress (APC) in Yobe State says it has received into its fold 26,000 supporters of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the state.

The Speaker of the Yobe State House of Assembly, Adamu Dala Dogo, who is chairing the Contact, Mobilisation and Reconciliation Committee of the Yobe APC, said that the 26,000 members of the PDP, who shifted loyalty to the APC, were thrown across seven local government areas of the state.

He listed the council areas to include Damaturu, the metropolitan council area, Tarmuwa, Yunusari, Nangere, Gulani, Geidam and Bursari.

Of the seven affected council areas, the Speaker said that all the chairmen and the local government executives among several other followers had denounced membership of the PDP and had thrown their weight behind the APC in “the search for a better and purposeful leadership.”

He guaranteed the decamped PDP members that the APC would carry them along in its entire programmes, promising that they will never regret leaving the PDP.

“I am happy you now realised and denounced membership of the PDP by shifting your loyalty to the APC. Let me assure you that you will never regret joining the APC because the party will carry all of you along in its programmes and you will be treated just like any other old members of the party,” the Speaker said.

The former PDP chairman of Damaturu Local Government, Ibrahim Talio, who spoke on behalf of the decamped members, said that they left PDP because of “serious injustice” they suffered over the years. He expressed optimism that the APC would surely be better.

Talio praised the progress recorded so far by the APC government in the state and hoped that similar transformation would be recorded at the national level when APC clinches power at the centre.

The seven decamped chairmen and some selected former PDP executives attended the denouncing ceremony held in Damaturu, the state capital.

Since the restoration of democracy in Nigeria in 1999, PDP has continued to be in the minority in Yobe State.

At the moment, all elected members at the Local Government level; the state and the National Assembly are of the APC, a situation the Yobe PDP are strategising to change during the 2015 polls.

•Adapted from a Channels TV report.

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