Thousands of supporters of various political parties in Taraba State have defected to the All Progressives Congress (APC).
The supporters, drawn from the 52 political wards of the five local government and special development areas of southern Taraba, stormed the St. Mary Secondary School in Wukari on Friday to declare their allegiance into the APC fold.
They comprised members of the United Democratic Party (UDP), All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), Social Democratic Party (SDP), Young Progressives Party (YPP), and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
An APC chieftain, Dalhatu Sangari, who received the new members said the development was the first of its kind in the political history of southern Taraba.
“Well, about 50,000 supporters from different political parties across Taraba South senatorial district consisting of five LGAs and one special development area have defected to our party.
“In political systems, one of the characteristics is a division of opinions and it leads to crises within ranks and we in the APC have been doing all things possible to see that these crises are resolved preparatory to 2023,” he said at the event.
Sangari urged the party faithful to give 100 per cent support to whoever would emerge as the consensus candidate for the ward, local government, state, zonal and national congresses.
One of the new members and a staunch supporter of the late Aisha Alhassan who was fondly called Mama Taraba, Tubase Ibrahim, asked the supporters of the former minister to join the APC.
“Today we have left the PDP and are back to APC. We lost the 2019 elections due to disunity and many factions and at the end of the day, our candidate (Alhassan) could not scale through. The APC has returned solidified, united, and ready to face PDP in Taraba State come 2023.
“From our observations at the grassroots, we know Taraba shall be of APC come 2023. As it stands now, from the 168 wards and 16 local government areas of Taraba State, all those who were with Mama Taraba are now in the APC,” he said.
But the PDP has insisted that it remained the party to beat in Taraba, highlighting the efforts of the present administration to develop the state.
It called on its supporters not to be moved by the game of APC in gathering what it described as fake crowds to scare party stalwarts, stressing that the APC has lost many times in Taraba and would remain a loser.
