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PDP carpets APC in Niger over alleged defections

By Akin Alofetekun, Minna
20 February 2018   |   2:33 am
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Niger State has described the claim by the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) that 35,000 members of its members defected to the APC in the state as a mere fabrication and a figment of its imagination.

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The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Niger State has described the claim by the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) that 35,000 members of its members defected to the APC in the state as a mere fabrication and a figment of its imagination.

“The figure declared by the APC is nothing but the usual propaganda, which brought it to power. The total number of people, including rented thugs at the venue were less than 10,000,” it said.

State chairman of the party, Tanko Beji, who disclosed this in Minna yesterday said those paraded at the APC rally were PDP members who had earlier been received into the party in 2015 shortly after the general elections.He added that the APC was going about recycling people to show that they had gained more converts to their fold.

How come those already given political appointments by the APC government in the state in 2015 and were received into the party before the appointments are now being paraded as new defectors? He queried. “I don’t believe that 35,000 people defected that day, you couldn’t have had 35,000 at the Trade Fair Complex, the crowd there was not more than 10,000, some of them were even rented.

He specifically singled out the former deputy chairman of the party from among those that defected saying: “We expected this to happen, he was discovered to be a mole and that is why we suspended him from our party.

However, the APC also yesterday insisted that 34, 838 PDP members defected to the APC adding: “We did not present 34,000 people on the stage last Saturday.”The Party Secretary Mohammad Liman said: “Those you saw were high profile defectors, some local governments have 2,000 defectors.”

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