Barely 10 days after Yobe Chairman of the PDP, Alhaji Sani Nguru, defected to the APC, more officials of the opposition party have also defected to the governing party.

Alhaji Ali Makinta, former chairman and nine ward officials of PDP, have defected to APC in Machina local government on Sunday.

Alhaji MaiMala Buni, Yobe APC governorship candidate, who received the defectors, urged the electorate in the state to vote massively in the governorship election.

Buni said this would prove their resilience and justify the votes cast to President Muhammadu Buhari in the presidential election.

“There were claims by the PDP that the presidential election results were manufactured in the state.

“We should use this opportunity of the governorship election to defend the votes scored by the president in Yobe state, ’’ he said.

Makinta, who spoke on behalf of the defectors, described PDP as a dead party and had nothing to offer the state and the country.

“We will vote massively for APC in the governorship and state assembly election to improve the votes scored by APC in the presidential election,” he said.

Earlier, Senate Leader, Ahmad Lawan, commended the electorate in the state for being resolute and politically principled.

“Since 1999, the people of Yobe had remained with the opposition party until 2015 under the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari.

“So, the governorship and state assembly election will justify our commitment as a people, to the APC and leadership of President Muhammadu Buhari,’’ he said.

Lawan said Yobe was lucky to have Buni as the governorship candidate, adding that he would consolidate the achievements of the Gaidam administration.

“We, in the National Assembly will protect the interest of the party to get what is due for the state and support President Buhari to move Nigeria to the next level,’’ he said. (NAN)