• Basiru predicts more defections
The National Secretary of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Ajibola Basiru, has predicted further defections to the party, noting that many politicians yet to join the ruling party were reassessing their political future.
 
He urged the people of Rivers State to support the APC in the forthcoming elections, saying that sustained electoral backing is critical to consolidating development and entrenching the party in the South-South.
 
Basiru spoke at the commissioning of the permanent secretaries’ quarters in Rivers State, where he congratulated Governor Siminalayi Fubara and the APC on the governor’s entry into the party.
 
He said the South-South has become the first geopolitical zone with all APC governors, stressing that Rivers State occupies a strategic position in realising that objective.
 
While declaring that more people will soon join the APC, he said: “Those standing aloof are checking their time. Very soon, party stalwarts and relevant political actors will join the APC. We assure everyone that the party will create an enabling political environment for all.”
 
Meanwhile, two senators from Rivers State, Allwell Onyesoh and Barinada Mpigi, formally defected to the APC yesterday.
 
The lawmakers cited irreconcilable internal divisions within the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the need to align with the Federal Government to better serve their constituents. Their defections were announced separately on the floor of the Senate during plenary, in the presence of a high-powered APC delegation from the national and state levels.
 
Onyesoh, who represents Rivers East Senatorial District, said his decision followed extensive consultations with political leaders and stakeholders in his constituency.
 
Similarly, Mpigi, who represents Rivers South-East Senatorial District, hinged his defection on constitutional provisions, arguing that the PDP had become engulfed in unresolved crises.
 
“In accordance with Section 68(1)(g) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, I hereby announce my defection to the APC,” he said.
 
He maintained that persistent factional disputes within the PDP at the national, state, local council and ward levels had made continued membership untenable.
 
In a related development, six members of the Rivers State House of Assembly have also defected from the PDP to the APC, following the recent exit of Fubara and 15 lawmakers from the opposition party.
 
Those who defected are Dumnamene Dekor (Khana/ Gokana), Solomon Bob (Abua/Odual and Ahoada East), Hart Cyril (Degema/Bonny), Victor Obuzor (Ahoada West/Ogba-Egbema-Ndoni), Blessing Amadi (Port Harcourt II) and Felix Nweke (Eleme/Oyigbo/Tai).
 
The wave of defections of political office holders from Rivers State is apparently strengthening the APC’s political foothold in Rivers State, one of the nation’s most strategic political and economic centres.