Edo APC, LP Members Defect to PDP * Say Oshiomhole a disappointment
Over two thousand members of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Labour Party (LP) in Edo State at the weekend in Auchi defected to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
APC chieftain Chief Lance Momodu, who led the defectors from his party, said they were originally PDP members who merely on sabbatical leave in APC.
Momodu said they joined APC to give Governor Adams Oshiomhole the opportunity to fulfill his promise of change, however lamenting, “but he has failed us''.
Lamented the APC chieftain, “Instead of one man, one vote, what we are experiencing is one man, no vote.
“APC is disorganised and running a one man show and also playing the politics of exclusiveness,'' he said.
On his part, Mr Onasa Momoh, LP chairman in Edo north senatorial district, disclosed that the entire structure of the LP in the senatorial district had fused with PDP, a party he described as “all inclusive.”
Momoh further disclosed that LP had in the past worked in alliance with the APC, but that such alliances were doomed to fail as the later never kept faith with any of the agreements reached.
He condemned the “victimization, harassment, humiliation, and the deprivation” of the rights of his party members during the last election in the state.
“We must put an end to cartels and individuals who have perfected the culture of greed and selfishness.
“We have chosen to join a party that is focused on creating jobs within a moral economy, a party that responds to the needs of the vulnerable,” he said.
Receiving the defectors, the state PDP Chairman, Chief Dan Orbih, described the defection of more than 2,100 people to the party as “historic''.
That the defection happened in Oshiomhole's local government area, remarked Orbih, indicated the level of frustration of the people with the APC-led administration.
According to Orbih, the move was a blessing to the defectors, since they had resolved to join hands with PDP to fight what he described as “oppression”.