The All Progressives Congress (APC) in Enugu State says none of its members has joined any other political party in the last two years.
The party said on Sunday that, on the contrary, it had become the new bride in the state as some members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and some others defected to its fold.
The state Chairman of the party, Dr Ben Nwoye, made the claim in Aguobu-Owa, Ezeagu Local Government Area of the state, when a former Commissioner for Culture and Tourism in the state, Chief Joe Mmamel, defected to the APC from the PDP.
According to Nwoye, the clarification had become necessary following a recent claim by the PDP that some APC members defected to its fold.
NAN reports that the state PDP, at a recent zonal meeting in Awgu, announced the defection of 5,000 members of the APC into its fold.
At the meeting, the defectors wielded brooms which they finally dropped and pledged allegiance to the PDP.
Nwoye, however, claimed that the action was a panic measure adopted by the state PDP.
“They have two factions; so, what happened there was phony – PDP members defecting between their factions.
“There were no faces known to us as our members but we have real PDP members defecting to our party,” Nwoye said.
Also reacting, a former governor of the state under the PDP, Mr Sullivan Chime, who now belongs to APC, said: “We need to tell our people the truth because the game of politics has changed.
“When PDP was on ground, there was no other viable party in the state.
“Other political parties always joined our campaign train but what we hear today is that some people were given brooms to declare for PDP.
“Not a single person was identified as an APC member.”
The former governor said that he declared for the APC in his ward, urging that whoever desired to change political party should not hide his identity.
“I declared for APC publicly in my ward. Former Senate President, Dr Ken Nnamani, and some others did the same thing.’’
Chime said that the APC had come to stay in the state. (NAN)