John Adams, Minna
The People Democratic Party (PDP) in Niger State on Friday received a big boost ahead of next month’s general election as it received 1,500 members of the People Democratic Movement (PDM) from Chanchaga Local Government Area of the state.
The entire structure of the party in 11 wards in Chanchaga collapsed into the PDP with it 1,500 members.
The defectors were led by the local government chairman of the party, Hon. Suleiman Alhassan and were received by the PDP chairman in the local government, Hon. Jamilu Saidu in a ceremony in Minna on Friday at the party local government secretariat.
This is coming barely one week after the PDP chairman in the state, Alhaji Tanko Beji, received no fewer than 3,000 members of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) from Edati local government who defected into the party.
Speaking on behalf of the defectors, the chairman of PDM in Chanchaga local government, Hon. Suleiman Saidu, said their decision to pitched their tent with the PDP was borne out of their conviction that the party was the only one that had the capacity to bring all Nigerians together for peace and development irrespective of their ethnic and religious differences.
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Hon. Saidu said the four years APC government had taken the country ten years backward in all aspects of human development, pointing out the country was more divided along ethnic and religious lines than ever.
“This government has succeeded in causing sharp division among Nigerians along ethnic and religious lines. It has also failed to handle the security challenges in the country today.”
According to him, the peaceful conduct of PDP primaries across the country and the confusion that greeted other parties after their primaries, was a clear indication that PDP remained the largest and with the capacity to take the country to the promise land.
“PDP is the only party that can guarantee peaceful co-existence of all Nigerians, regardless of ethnic and religious differences.
“It is the only party that has the interest of the masses at heart, that can reduce the current unemployment and hardship in the country, and that is why we decided to join the party.”
He assured the party that he and his co-defectors would work assiduously to ensure total victory for PDP candidates at all levels in the forthcoming elections.
Receiving the defectors amidst cheers and jubilations at the party secretariat, the Hon. Saidu assured them that the party would carry them along, stressing that “our umbrella is big enough to accommodate everybody whether new members or old members.”
He reminded them that PDP would go into the election fully prepared and would protect their votes from the polling units to the final collation centres.
“We will protect our votes with our last blood from the polling units to the final collation centre; we will resist any attempt to manipulate people’s mandates because the only thing left for them now is to rig the election.