Chief Paulinus Akpeki, the immediate
past chief of Staff, Government House to former governor Emmanuel Uduaghan of
Delta State has dumped the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and decamped to the
All Progressive Party (APC).
 |
| Chief Paulinus Akpeki |
Announcing his decision at a press conference
in Asaba on saturday, he asserted that Delta State chapter of the All
Progressives Congress (APC) has vowed to stop at nothing until it displaces the
PDP as the dominant party in the state, the same way it happened at the centre.
The state Chairman of APC, Prophet
Jones Ode Erue, was joined by a chieftain of the APC, Chief Ayiri Emami, and
other leaders of the party to receive the defectors into the party.
Akpeki, who served in different
capacities under the PDP government of the Uduaghan administration as
commissioner for housing and chief of staff, was joined at the press conference
by other PDPchieftains, including erstwhile PDP commissioners, Mr. Ebifa
Ijeomah, Olorogun Jaro Egbo, and Mr. Misan Kubeyinje.
They were joined by Dr. John
Ogheneovo Akwara, another PDP chieftain, who said he came to the venue of the
press briefing as a mark of solidarity with Akpeki, because he shared the view
that “things can’t continue as they are; but we must follow the wind of change
blowing across the nation.”
The defection of PDP leaders was
coming at a time the rumour is rife of the impending defection of the immediate
past governor of Delta State, Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan.
However, none of the politicians at Saturday’s
event, including Erue, Akpeki, Emami and Egbo was willing to confirm the rumour
of Uduaghan’s planned defection to APC.
The state party chairman simply told
newsmen that since the biblical John the Baptist could not initially identify
who “The Christ” was, he too could not tell who the expected “political Christ”
bound for the APC platform was until he appears on the scene.
Akpeki described the event as “merely
a harbinger of the unstoppable gale of mass defection from PDP to APC which
will be witnessed in Delta State very soon.”
However, it was learnt that a
high-powered group of APC national leaders, led by Governor Adams Oshiomhole of
Edo State, was “working at it” and putting finishing touches to the grand plan
to bring Uduaghan and thousands of his political disciples into the APC.
Speaking at the occasion, Emami, an
Itsekiri chief who holds the traditional title of Akulagba of Warri Kingdom,
noted that the task to build APC into a powerful political structure was no
mean one, said that Delta State was too important to be allowed to belong to
the opposition camp.
He said numerous PDP leaders across the 25 local
government areas of the state were warming to dump the party for the APC but
were only bidding their time until the expected time to go public with the mass
defection plans.
Meanwhile, Akpeki disclosed that what he called “a harvest of political heavyweights” by the APC in Delta State would crystallise soon with a major political rally billed for his home base of Sapele.
The highpoint of the event was the presentation of the symbolic broom of the APC to Akpeki on behalf of all the defecting PDP leaders even as Erue assured that individual brooms would be given to all the new members during the expected rally of the party to receive them.
Meanwhile, Akpeki disclosed that what he called “a harvest of political heavyweights” by the APC in Delta State would crystallise soon with a major political rally billed for his home base of Sapele.
The highpoint of the event was the presentation of the symbolic broom of the APC to Akpeki on behalf of all the defecting PDP leaders even as Erue assured that individual brooms would be given to all the new members during the expected rally of the party to receive them.
·
Report from ThisDay
No comments:
Post a Comment