Rivers APC Loses Big As Amaechi Loyalists In Ikwerre Join PDP

Hundreds of All Progressives Congress (APC) members and their leaders from the former Rivers State governor and Minister of Transportation,  Hon. Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi's home local government, Ikwerre, have dumped the party for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the ruling party in the state has stated.
Amaechi, who hails from Ubima in Ikwerre LGA, is the leader of the APC in the oil-rich state, but the PDP had boasted that he would be left with the carcass of the main opposition party in the state.
Excited over the mass defection, the Chairman of Rivers PDP, Bro. Felix Obuah said, in a statement, signed Friday by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Jerry Needam, that the defectors acted in demonstration of their disappointment and frustration over the failure of the APC to provide a better leadership alternative.
He stated that it was not surprising that the APC suffered such fate, “as the party and its Abuja-based leaders do not have the structure, grassroots support, as well as genuine commitment and purposeful programmes to carter for the needs of the people.”
While welcoming the new members from the APC to the PDP, Obuah “congratulated them on their realization and bold step taken in spite of the intimidation and inducement by the former governor and other leaders of the APC, who are running from pillar to post in Abuja begging to be appointed or imposed on the people through fraudulent elections in the state.”
He reiterated that the PDP umbrella was large enough to accommodate both regular and returning members of the party, assuring all of equal opportunity and treatment as a responsible and well-meaning party founded on equity, justice and fair play.
The PDP chairman further explained that with the current trend of defections in Rivers State, the minister of transportation, “would be left with the carcass of the party, appealing to the remnants to make hay while the sun shines so as to be part of the various development programmes and initiatives of the Governor Nyesom Wike- led government in the state.”
He also urged the former governor and his allies to stomach their pride and stop their uncovered plots against the PDP government in the state, admit their failure and defeat, and take steps in joining the performing Governor Nyesom Wike in giving the people a new lease of life.
PDP, Obuah said, is willing to forgive and re-admit any genuinely repentant APC leader and member who is ready to help build a better Rivers State, assuring that in the coming days, more of the leftover APC members would join the PDP fold in the state.