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No fewer than 5,000 members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Lagos state on Friday defected to the All Progressives Congress (APC).
According to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) the defectors were received into the APC at an elaborate ceremony at the ACME Road secretariat of the party.
NAN reports that some 500 members of PDP had on July three also defected to APC in the state.
The defectors, who’re members of the United Niger Delta Forum, were led into their new party by Mr Gabriel Ese, the group’s leader.
They were received by the Lagos state Chairman of the APC, Alhaji Tunde Balogun, with some other party officials.
Speaking at the event, Balogun stated the party was excited to receive the new members into the fold of the party.
He mentioned the decision of the former PDP members to join the party reflected the growing confidence in the party.
Balogun commended the new members for their choice to join what he called the progressive train, assuring them that the party would do its best to give them a way of belonging.
“We’re comfortable that you’ve made the decision to join the progressive train today and we assure you that we’ll do our best to make you feel at home.
“Even as you’re just joining us, we have now accepted you as part and parcel of the APC and we will not discriminate against you.
“I assure you, you’ll not regret becoming a member of the APC. We will work collectively like brothers and sisters to make sure that APC is greater than what it is in the state,” he said.
Balogun implored the new members to show commitment and give their best in order to ensure victory for the APC in 2019 general elections.
The All Progressives Congress (APC) chairman in Lagos State also advised them to obtain their Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) in order to take part in the elections.
Alhaji Tunde Balogun said the party had commenced registration of members nationwide and urged the new members to register to be fully integrated.
Also speaking, Ese said he and other members of the group were delighted to leave the PDP to join “the progressive party”.
He mentioned the decision of the group to leave the PDP was because of the strides of Gov. Akinwunmi Ambode in Lagos state.
Ese said they were also motivated by the charismatic leadership of the national leader of the party, Chief Bola Tinubu and the achievements of the APC at the national level.
“We’re pledging our full allegiance to the party because we have now realised this is the party to be.
“We’re so pleased to be here and we are going to do our best to take the party to the next degree, ” he said.
Ese said that there were about 500,000 registered members of the group in the state, saying that they would be mobilised them to obtain their PVCs in order to vote for All Progressives Congress (APC) in 2019 general election.
