- One of the PDP members who recently defected to the APC has stated the reasons for his action
- He said he joined the ruling party to consolidate the good work of President Buhari
- The new APC member also said he will push for the emergence of Igbo presidency in 2023
Senator Hope Uzodimma (Imo West), one of the PDP chieftains who defected to the All Progressives Congress (APC) on Friday, April 27, said he and his colleagues will strongly push for the southeast to produce the president of Nigeria in 2023.
Uzodimma, a former PDP senator and chairman of Senate Committee on Customs, Excise and Tariffs led Ali Modu Sheriff’s former faction of the PDP to a mass declaration for APC at the party’s Secretariat in Abuja on Friday, April 27, Vanguard reports.
Uzodimma said the group joined the APC in the national interest to consolidate the good work of President Muhammadu Buhari in the country by expanding his support base all over the federation.
How, he also made it clear that he would push for a better accommodation of Ndigbo in the APC led Federal Government and for the southeast to produce the president of the country in 2023.
He said: “Mr President is doing well, so in the national interest we are joining APC to expand his support base all over the country. I am aware that the south-east has not been fully accommodated in the federal government but I am sure that our presence will change things for the better.
Moreover, we shall strongly push for the southeast to produce the president of Nigeria in 2023.” Uzodimma stood in for the group. All the 36 chairmen of former Sheriff faction of PDP were at the special ceremony organized by the APC leadership to receive them.
The national chairman of the ruling party John Oyegun, seven APC governors, Secretary to the Federal Government (SGF) Boss Mustapha and other national officers were on hand to receive the new members of the party. Meanwhile, sources close to Sen. Uzodimma said many Imo stakeholders have called him to congratulate him for his courage in standing up for the interest of the southeast at the declaration.
The source, according to Vanguard, said a top politician from Imo whose name he refused to disclose, called the senator at about 8pm on Friday to thank him for making Ndigbo proud at the event.
Reports from Imo state said many of Uzodimma’s supporters were excited over the senator’s defection to APC because they believe he would give the party a new lease of life in the state just as he would fight for the interest of Ndigbo at the national level. Chief Oyegun while receiving them into APC said that “the eagle has landed” and that there will be a new face of APC in the southeast.
He assured the new members that the party was delighted to welcome them into the APC family.
A member of the APC, Adamu Garba II, had indicated interest to slug it out with President Buhari at the party’s primaries. Garba, the founder of IPI Solutions, said he has all it takes to secure APC’s presidential ticket at the party’s primaries. He said he has a manifesto that will fix Nigeria.
He also said he believes APC is the only platform with prospects for young Nigerians. “I strongly believe the APC is a party with the right history and structures needed for me to actualise my ambition, which is to become the president of Nigeria. We need to stay within and change the rot from within,” he said.
