About 37,874 members of opposition parties in Akwa Ibom State on Friday, March 22, 2024, joined the state’s ruling Peoples Democratic Party, PDP.
The defectors include members of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Young Progressives Party, YPP, New Nigeria Peoples Party, NNPP, and the Social Democratic Party, SDP, among others.
Speaking on behalf of the returnees, former state secretary of APC Nkereuwem Enyong Ekere and Emmanuel Uko Etteh of YPP expressed readiness to collapse their structures and work for PDP.
Receiving them at the PDP Secretariat, Atan Offot, Uyo, Governor Umo Eno admonished them not to disrespect and attack their leaders, especially at the centre.
“The PDP I run does not attack leaders. We have to support leaders and not fight them because, as a pastor, I am trained to respect people. We must show the character of humility, compassion and respect to constituted authorities. That we will continue to do as a party,” the governor stated.
He stressed that growth and progress can only thrive in an atmosphere of peace, love and unity, urging them to collapse all past structures in their possession into the PDP structure to show sincerity of purpose and seriousness.
Eno promised the returnees equal opportunities to serve in the party and the state, as the PDP umbrella is large enough to accommodate everybody in the state.
In his welcome address, the state PDP chairman, Aniekan Akpan, described the reception rally as the mother of all rallies in the state, only second to what was witnessed in December 2022.
The party boss assured the returnees, who are mostly former leaders of the PDP, of full reintegration into the family.
Presenting them to the governor and the people of the state, Akpan pledged to work together in unity to ensure the growth of PDP in the state, noting that, as former leaders in PDP, their actions amounted to an expression of confidence in the achievements of Umo Eno’s administration in just nine months.
He noted that compiled data of all the returnees was available to show facts in the figures presented from all the units, wards and local government areas where they came from.
“Following what we did jointly with the political adviser to the governor, Prince Godwin Ntukude, we have a record of over 37,000 members of other political parties who indicated interest in returning to the PDP today,” Akpan explained.
