- The ranks of the Jigawa state chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) swelled recently
- About 8,905 Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) members joined the APC in the state with their leader, Senator Danladi Sankara
- The move is in anticipation of the 2019 general election
Alhaji Danladi Sankara, former senator representing Jigawa Northwest Senatorial District, has dumped the PDP and joined the APC.
Sankara was received by the Jigawa state governor, Alhaji Muhammad Badaru at the Malam Aminu Kano triangle Square on Sunday, October 29 in Dutse.
Badaru said that the defection of the former senator was a welcome development to the party in the state.
These are cheerful times for APC national chairman, Chief John Oyegun and its members. Photo credit: The Guardian
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The governor said that the APC had caught a big fish, for the entrance of Sankara to APC in view of his pedigree in his former party.
Badaru recalled that Sankara was one time national vice chairman, PDP Northwest geo-political zone and sole administrator of the party in Sokoto state.
“With his defection to APC, PDP is completely dead in Jigawa because Sankara is one of the founders of PDP in the country and the person that brought it to Jigawa,’’ he said.
The governor, however, said that the immediate past administration left a contract liability of N92 billion to him but with the help of God and the good people of the state, he overcame the situation.
He lamented the myriad of problems left by the previous administration of PDP at both state and federal levels which resulted in President Muhammadu Buhari giving out bail outs to states.
Chief John Oyegun, national chairman of the APC who was represented at the ceremony by the chairman of the party in the northwest, Alhaji Shuaibu Lawal, assured that Senator Sankara would be treated fairly like other members of the party.
Earlier, while formally declaring for the party, Sankara said that he was joining the party with 8,905 of his supporters.
Sankara pledged to work for the unity and progress of the party, to win all elections in the state and at the federal level. (NAN)
In a related development, no fewer than 5,000 members of the PDP have defected to the APC in Ughelli North local government area in Delta state.
According to media reports, the defectors were led by an influential politician in the area named Olorogun Ovoke Oshasha.
READ ALSO: 1,500 APC members decamp to PDP in Rivers
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Source: Naija.ng