The presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Atiku Abubakar and some chieftains of the party on Monday welcomed Ibrahim Shekarau and his associates into its fold.
Shekarau left the New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP), a party he joined in May from the All Progressives Congress (APC), for the PDP, citing unfair treatment.
Prominent PDP members at the event to welcome the Kano Central senator include the party’s vice presidential candidate, Ifeanyi Okowa; former Vice President Namadi Sambo; the party’s BOT chairman, Walid Jibrin; former Jigawa State governor, Sule Lamido, and Senator Dino Melaye.
The lawmaker’s teeming supporters from the 44 local government areas of Kano State and PDP faithful defied the downpour to witness the event at Shekarau’s Mundubawa residence.
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While formally announcing his defection from the NNPP, he pledged to work for PDP’s victory in the forthcoming polls.
Monday’s defection came years after Shekarau left the PDP for the APC. That was in 2019 and he succeeded in winning a senatorial seat on the platform of the ruling party.
But a fallout with Governor Abdullahi Ganduje of Kano State led to his defection to the NNPP. Again, the lawmaker’s relationship with Senator Rabiu Kwankwaso, who later clinched the NNPP presidential ticket, went sour after some of his loyalists failed to get the party’s tickets to contest in next year’s general elections.
