JUST IN: Tsunami Hits PDP as 5,000 Members Defect to ADC in Niger
The mass defection, which cut across all 25 local government areas of the state, was announced on Sunday during an expanded meeting of PDP stakeholders held at Haske Hotel in Minna, the state capital.
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Tsunami Hits PDP as 5,000 Members Defect to ADC in Niger
More than 5,000 members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) have dumped the party for the African Democratic Congress (ADC), citing frustration over poor leadership and a loss of direction.
The mass defection, which cut across all 25 local government areas of the state, was announced on Sunday during an expanded meeting of PDP stakeholders held at Haske Hotel in Minna, the state capital.
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The high-level gathering featured five party leaders from each LGA, who formally presented the lists of defectors from their respective zones.
Defectors accused the PDP leadership in the state of compromising the party’s integrity, claiming it had become an “appendage of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC)” over the past two years.
A communiqué issued at the end of the meeting was scathing in its assessment of the PDP’s current state. It noted the party’s “failure to offer credible opposition” and declared that it had lost the trust of its grassroots supporters due to “lacklustre performance and internal betrayal.”
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Among the prominent PDP leaders who attended the meeting and reportedly backed the defection were former lawmakers Rt. Hon. Baba Shehu Agaie and Abdullahi Shehu Rijau; ex-governorship aspirant Rt. Hon. Engr. Mukhtar Ahmad; former Secretary to the State Government Rt. Hon. Ndako Kpaki; and former Speaker of the Niger State House of Assembly, Rt. Hon. Musa Ma’ali.
Others present included Hon. Tsowa Gamunu, M.B. Tsado, Muhammad Nazeer Abdullahi, and Rt. Hon. Ndanusa Hassan Aliyu.
The communiqué further commended the emergence of the ADC as a credible national platform and lauded the recent appointments of former Senate President David Mark as Interim National Chairman, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola as Interim National Secretary, and Bolaji Abdullahi as Interim National Publicity Secretary of the ADC.
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Key resolutions from the meeting included:
- Full integration of the defectors into the ADC coalition.
- A coordinated grassroots membership and voter registration campaign.
- A future date to formally unveil the ADC structure in Niger State in alliance with other opposition parties.
“The PDP has failed in its responsibility both at the state and national level. The time has come for a real opposition that can speak for the people,” the communiqué stated.
