The National Chairman of the ruling
All Progressives Congress, John Odigie-Oyegun, at a ceremony in Jos on
Wednesday, formally received former governor of Plateau State, Joshua Dariye; a
former deputy governor of the state, Ignatius Longjan; and a reported crowd of
343,190 members of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in the state into the
APC.
While Mr. Dariye, who was governor
of the state between 1999 and 2007, had announced his defection into the APC
since September, the decision of the others to change camp was made public only
recently.
Mr. Dariye was last year elected to
the Senate on the platform of the PDP.
Other prominent politicians among
the defectors were a former Deputy Governor, Jethro Akun; 2015 governorship
aspirant, Jimmy Cheto; serving deputy speaker of the state assembly, Yusuf
Garga; 2011 governorship aspirant, Pam Dung Gyang; former state PDP chairman,
Maichibi Vwarji; and former Jos North local government council chairman, Daladi
Atu.
Receiving the defectors, Mr. Oyegun
assured them of full membership status as party faithful.
“The rescue mission of Governor
Simon Lalong has just begun rescuing Plateau people into the APC”, Mr. Oyegun
said at the ceremony.
Speaking on the economic recession,
the APC national chairman appealed to Nigerians to endure the situation,
stating that economic hardship will be history by the end of 2017.
“By this time next year, you will
start having cause to smile and thank President Buhari for the good works he is
doing. President Buhari does not talk much, but he is an action man.”
In his remarks at the ceremony,
Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, described the move of
the former PDP stalwarts into APC as a homecoming.
“For me, these personalities who
just joined us in the APC only returned home, and we will embrace them in warm
reception,” Mr. Dogara said.
He also pleaded with Nigerians to
bear the current economic hardship, stressing that the President Buhari-led APC
administration has the capacity to resolve the economic crisis.
Mr. Dogara said the 2017 Budget at
the national level will end the hardship of Nigerians.
In his address, Governor Lalong said
with the arrival of the PDP stalwarts in his party, political opposition had
ended in Plateau State.
The ceremony was attended by the
north-central zonal chairman of the APC, Zakari Idde; Plateau State Deputy
Governor, Sonni Tyoden; and state APC chairman, Letep Dabang.
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