Some heavyweight political leaders in the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), including Senate President Bukola Saraki, Sokoto State Governor, Aminu Tambuwal and Benue State Governor, Samuel Ortom, are in their final days in the party as their defection to the opposition Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) will be sealed next week.
According to reports, Kwara State Governor, Ahmed Abdulfatah of Kwara State will also join them in defecting to the PDP, the largest opposition party in the country.
Recall that Ortom had caused a stir on Monday when he announced his departure from the APC, saying that the ruling party had given him a “red card”.
Ahead of the move, Saraki and others met PDP leaders at the burial of the mother of Abubakar Baraje, Chairman of the New Peoples Democratic Party (n-PDP) bloc that spearheaded the defection of six governors from the PDP to APC in 2013, ahead of the 2015 presidential election.
Uche Secondus, National Chairman of the PDP; Nyesom Wike, Governor of Rivers State; and n-PDP’s Baraje were among the notable PDP leaders who received Saraki and the APC team on Wednesday.
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The anticipated defection of the APC bigwigs further depletes the ranks of the ruling party, already hit by the breakout of the Reformed All Progressives Congress (R-APC) and the union of close to 40 political parties to form the Coalition of United Political Parties (CUPP).