Following the mass defection of 34,826 Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) members to the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Niger state, the immediate-past Governor of the state, Dr Babangida Aliyu has said he would not be joining the ruling party.
Aliyu made this known on Monday while reacting to the defection.
He said he would have long defected to the APC had he wanted to be selfish.
“I have no intention of defecting to the APC because I believe in the PDP. I had the opportunity of decamping to the APC when I led the G-7 Governors but did not do so because of my belief in the PDP.
“What we protested then was to correct some of the abnormality in PDP but not to defect to the APC.
“If I were a selfish politician then, I would have defected to the APC then. Maybe I would have become a minister now,’’ he said.
Some of the defectors were close allies of the ex-governor, including the Deputy Chairman of the PDP in the state, Alhaji Aminu Yusuf.
Aliyu noted that the PDP had started correcting the ills within its fold and would get stronger at the various levels.