A chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and former Governor of Kano State, Ibrahim Shekarau, has defected to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
Over 10,000 others from the 44 local councils in the state also defects from the party to the People Democratic Party.
At the end of a stakeholders’ meeting at Shekarau’s residence in Kano, the APC members unanimously agreed to join forces with President Goodluck Jonathan ahead of elections 2015 elections.
The defected APC members called the process ‘PDP Islamiyya’ which they said was a replacement of ‘APC Islamiyya’.
Mr Shekarau said that the decision was taken after series of negotiations and counter negotiations with the APC’s leaders at the national level.
“Along with 200 others, we sent a petition to the national chairman of the APC concerning handing over of command to APC state governors, six month now; our petition has not been answered.
“The injustice shown to me and my supporters coupled with neglect by APC at the national level are some of the reasons we had to defect to the PDP.
“After the APC’s stakeholders meeting in Kano, a motion was moved, decision was taken and ‘APC Islamiyya was dissolved while PDP Islamiyya formed,” he said.
Ahead of the 2015 election, the defection of Shekarau could be a very big blow for APC especially in northern Nigeria.
