In A'Ibom, 37,874 defectors join PDP

Pastor Umo Eno, the state governor of Akwa Ibom State, admitted 37,874 members of opposition political groups into the Peoples Democratic Party on Friday.

The governor warned the returnees—who had previously belonged to political organizations such as the Social Democratic Party, Young Progressives Party, New Nigeria People’s Party, and All Progressives Congress—against showing disrespect for leaders, particularly those in the center.

“We welcome you sincerely into our party, The PDP is not a party that insults leaders, as you come back, one of the things I want you to drop is an attack on leaders. For example, the President of the country, Bola Ahmed Tinubu. We have to show him optimum respect and support.

“The PDP I run doesn’t 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.

In order to demonstrate their seriousness and sincerity, he urged them to dismantle any previous structures they held and replace them with the PDP structure. He emphasized that growth and progress can only flourish in an environment of love, peace, and unity.

Eno assured the returnees that because the PDP is big enough to include everyone in the state, they will have equal opportunities to serve in both the party and the state.

“If we truly love our state, if we truly love the people, let us realize that we have no other than Akwa Ibom and we need to work together as a people irrespective of ethnic affection.

“Thank you for coming to this realization, we receive you today because we are one, we come from one stock, thank you for understanding that it is only in the atmosphere of peace and unity that there can be progress. We have accepted you wholeheartedly, without segregation. We have spoken to the leadership of all the units, wards, and local government areas to receive and work with you for the growth of the PDP, “he maintained.

Aniekan Akpan, the state PDP chairman, had earlier referred to the reception rally as the mother of all rallies in the state, second only to the events that took place in December 2022, during his welcoming speech.

The head of the party promised the repatriees, who are primarily former PDP leaders, a thorough reintegration into the family.

Presenting them to the state’s governor and populace, Akpan promised to collaborate in order to secure the PDP’s expansion in the state, pointing out that, as former PDP leaders, their action amounted to a declaration of confidence in the accomplishments of Umo Eno’s administration’s led in just nine months.

He mentioned that all of the returnees’ data was compiled and could be viewed to demonstrate the accuracy of the figures from each of their original units, wards, and local government regions.

“On the order of the governor, we collated the data of all those that wanted to defect to the PDP from other parties.

“Following what we did jointly with the political Adviser to the governor, Prince Godwin Ntukude Ph., we have a record of over 37,000 members of other political parties who indicated interest to return to the PDP today”, Akpan explained.

Leaders of other parties, including Emmanuel Uko Etteh of the YPP and Nkereuwem Enyong Ekere, the former state secretary of the APC, spoke on behalf of the returnees and indicated their real willingness to dismantle all of their structures and collaborate with the PDP.

However, in barely nine months of taking office, the governor received praise from them for making such a large investment in agriculture and other life-changing initiatives.