Niger State Deputy Governor, Alhaji Ahmed Ibeto, and over 2oo political office holders on Monday defected from the ruling Peoples Democratic Party to the All Progressives Congress.
Announcing his defection to newsmen in Minna, Ibeto said, “I am on my way to welcome our party leader and presidential candidate, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, at Minna Airport for his campaign rally in Niger State.”
Ibeto attributed his defection to injustice melted out him and other contestants in the state party primaries, describing the exercise as flawed and stage-managed to favour anointed candidates.
Ibeto said, “The electoral process that threw up Alhaji Umar Nasko as PDP governorship candidate was not in accordance with the PDP electoral law and the constitution,”he said.
“It is true we are defecting to APC because the primaries conducted were not in accordance wirth the PDP constitution. Myself and other aggrieved party members decided to petition the National Headquaters of the party on the outcome of the governorship primaries with a view to addressing the obvious injustice but met a brickwall.
“We were expecting justice from the party’s national office but nothing was forthcoming, hence we decided to join the APC.”
He however appealed to his supporters to be law abiding and not to make politics a do-or-die battle.
Among those who defected from PDP alongside the deputy governor are serving members of National Assembly, members of State’s House of Assembly, former commissioners and former local governments chairmen