75 Kaduna PDP chieftains join APC in Kaduna

The defecting members in conjunction with the leaders of the APC held a meeting at Rabah close, Malali and later addressed a news conference.
Interim chairman of the APC Dr. Hakeem Baba Ahmed said 75 ‘stakeholders’ of the PDP in the state had identified themselves as members of the APC  and all would pay attention towards the development of the state and the country.
“We have accepted those who joined our party and we shall work with them to develop Kaduna State and the nation. We shall produce competent candidates in future elections to establish a more responsive and representative government”, he said.
He said members will not allow any group to hijack the party for personal interests, adding that more members would join the party. He said membership registration of the party would soon commence. “Those that defected to the APC will in the next few days be registered as APC members. It is a development for Kaduna State and a very good development for Nigeria.
“About 75 people came here but we are going to have a gathering that will bring more than a million people. We are going to show the people of Kaduna State that the next government in this state will be produced by APC. People who have been chairmen of the PDP since 1999 are part of this group. We have got two ex-PDP chairmen. They have also brought high level PDP people to join the party and they are welcome.
“It is natural for APC members to worry but APC is not for hijacking, APC is a party that is strong on the ground. We have started building structures at local government and wards levels. Nobody will hijack this party so long as we are leading this party. There is no way PDP people will come and take over our party. Those that join us will come in as members and they will behave as members”, he added. Those who defected include the former PDP chairmen Yaro Audi Makama and Ibrahim Yaro, former commissioners Ibrahim Iro (finance), Hassan Shekarau and Musa Baba Zaria, Ambassador Sule Buba, former chairman of Jema’a local government Gideon Morik, former chairman, Kudan local government Wan Yan Zazzau, former member, House of Representatives Suleiman Abdu Kwari and former women leader PDP Aisha Mairago. Others are former local government chairmen Sabo Uba (Sabon Gari) and Auwal Tafoki (Kaduna South), Ibrahim Yahaya, Isa Tunau as well as 5 councillors.
Former party chairman Audi Yaro Makama said they dumped the PDP because in spite of controlling government at the state level, nothing meaningful is being done by the government to uplift the people. “State and federal governments must be changed and we are ready to change them. APC will take over power while PDP will become an opposition party”, he said.
In a reaction, the Publicity Secretary of the PDP, Ibrahim Munsur said: “It has come to our knowledge that disgruntled politicians are claiming to have defected from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). The Kaduna State PDP wishes to inform the general public that the so-called individuals and their co-pilots have ceased to be members of the PDP for a very long time ago. In short it is  good riddance to bad rubbish, these politicians have stopped participating in PDP activities and programmes a long time ago. As such their so called defection is only a charade intended to deceive the general public for cheap political point.”