The opposition PDP and the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) are “dying at a fantastic rate,” according to Dr. Umar Abdullahi Ganduje, National Chairman of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), who made this statement on Friday.
This comes after Ganduje and Senator Jibrin Barau, the Deputy Senate President, were paid courtesy visits by the 2023 Atiku Campaign support groups across 19 Northern States in Abuja.
In the 2023 general election, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, a former vice president of former President Olusegun Obasanjo, ran as the presidential candidate of the People’s Democratic Party against APC President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
The organisation operating under the Coalition of Atiku Support Groups in the 19 Northern States declared their defection to the All Progressives Congress and sent over their certificate of recognition to the National Chairman of the APC.
While addressing the decampees, Ganduje said even in the Anambra State forthcoming Governorship election, the Peoples Democratic Party was yet to have aspirants for screening which is the reason they are extending time for screening, boasting that opposition parties are dying and the APC is harvesting their members.
The Intercept reports that five representatives of the groups from each of the 19 Northern States and FCT attended the event, pledging to work for the success of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu during the 2027 general election.
The Coordinator of the Coalition, Hon Abubakar Malami, said, “Our groups comprise various strata of society— women, youths, students, traders, academics, and farmers, representing diverse religious and ethnic backgrounds.
“In the 2023 general election build-up, we mobilised our members across the nooks and crannies of the 19 Northern States and the FCT to campaign for former Vice President Atiku Abubakar.”
Earlier in his speech, the Deputy Senate President, Jibrin Barau, described their joining the party as the best thing as the nation was gradually moving towards the election year, adding that they would have equal opportunities like old members of the APC.
He described the development as a “big catch for the APC.
Barau said: “It’s a big catch. We are making a big catch today at our party. Mr. President is a very good man.
“He’s doing his best to reposition Nigeria so it will be turned into a land of prosperity. And it’s good that you understood that and have come to acknowledge what Mr. President is doing.”
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He urged them to team up with Mr President in order to succeed in his effort to change the development trajectory of the nation.
“You are joining the APC family because it’s a family that cherishes hard work. And for us, we do not discriminate.
“Whoever comes into the party today has the same privileges, the same latitude to operate like someone who has stayed for years.
“The only difference is your hard work. What have you been able to do at the party? So if you do better, if you do well, you will even be recognised more than someone who has been around since the party’s inception,” he said.
