Dankwambo’s younger brother, others dump PDP for APC

No fewer than 2000 members of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Gombe State have defected to the All Progressives Congress (APC) led by Buhari Dankwambo, a younger brother of Governor Ibrahim Dankwambo and another devout supporter, Auwal Abdullahi Gafaka Akko.

Speaking to journalists in Gombe at the weekend, Akko stated prior to joining the APC, he and his supporters in Akko Local Council had registered with the APC, adding that they joined the party because they desire to render service on its platform.

While expressing appreciation over the manner in which officials of the APC in the state received them, he said: “Today, I and the others are not just joining the APC for joining sake, we are joining because we are on a mission to save the state from bad leadership.”

Also speaking while receiving the defectors at the party secretariat in Akko, Gombe Central Zonal Vice Chairman of APC, Adamu Kwaja, said APC has been accepted in Gombe.

“We are happy to receive Akko along with thousands of his supporters. He is an asset and he will no doubt add value to the party. Time has come for the party to take over the state from Dankwambo’s administration.

Meanwhile, Buhari Dankwambo also registered with the APC in spite of Governor Dankwambo and some political bigwigs’ effort to convince him to remain in the PDP.

It was learnt that until his defection, Buhari Dankwambo had been under immense pressure to change his mid but to no avails to the extent that he was given juicy offers, but he rejected.

The Guardian also learnt that effort to stop him from moving to the APC was not due to his political relevance, but because it would be embarrassing for the younger brother of a sitting governor who aspires to be president of the country to defect to the opposition party.

A source close to the government said: “Obviously something is wrong, it shows that the governor is incapable of managing situations around him. We felt we could manage the situation but unfortunately it was above us. The governor should be blamed for the development.”

It was gathered that Chairman of his Ajiya Ward in Gombe North constituency presented Buhari Dankwambo his membership card after his registration.

Speaking with journalists in a telephone interview, Buhari Dankwambo, said he decided to join the APC due to the prevailing conditions and his deep convictions.