The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) says it is unmoved by the recent wave of defection by governors under the party to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), insisting it is well-positioned to reclaim the country’s number one seat in 2023.
Governor Bello Mattawalle of Zamfara State officially joined the APC from the PDP on Tuesday, becoming the second governor to leave the nation’s main opposition for the ruling party, just over one month after his Cross River counterpart Ben Ayade moved to the APC.
But the PDP insists the defections are nothing to worry about, claiming that the APC has not fulfilled its promises to Nigerians.
“We stand here to state clearly that we will form the next government come 2023 because of the masses, not the governors who are leaving the PDP,” the national chairman of the party, Uche Secondus said during a press conference in Abuja on Tuesday.
‘Poaching Governors’
The PDP leader who accused the APC of “poaching governors” from the party and intimidating them to join the ruling party, urged the APC to focus on repositioning the country’s economy and making life better for Nigerians.
“I have never seen a country where you have an economic crisis, [and] insecurity then the ruling party goes poaching governors… it is a shame that all the governors left for fear; they were intimidated by the instrument of the government of the APC,” the PDP leader noted while lamenting the level of hardship in Africa’s most populous nation.
“They are going after our governors but we are going after the masses of this country, the people who are suffering under this government. And that is the difference.”
The PDP took over the country’s reigns of leadership at the dawn of democracy in 1999. The party ruled Nigeria for sixteen years. But in 2015, it lost to the APC which has since then led Africa’s most populous nation.