Akpeki, others dump PDP for APC

FORMER Commissioner for Housing and Chief of Staff, Government House in the immediate past administration of Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan, Chief Paulinus Akpeki, has led a number of political heavyweights to dump the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Delta State.

Addressing the press at the weekend in the company of the state APC chairman, Prophet Jones Erue, party stalwart, Chief Ayiri Emami, fellow decampees which include Misan Kubeyinje, Ebifa Ijeoma among others, Akpeki, who holds the traditional title of Ugo of Okpe, said his decision to switch camps was borne out of a personal conviction that the state needed to be “free from the iron grip of the PDP which is threatening to turn the state to a personal fiefdom,” adding that his association with the APC national chairman, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun dates back to Bendel State where he was to run as his running mate in 1991 before the splitting of the state into Edo and Delta by former military President Ibrahim Babangida.

He said that unlike former two-time governor of Bendel State and his hero, Dr. Osaigbovo Ogbemudia, he would rather leave the PDP instead of lamenting, noting that his greatest regret was not quitting the party at the right time.

According to Akpeki: “We shall seize power because we are John the Baptist. The Christ is coming. It is not going to be easy because nothing good comes easy but the end will be smooth. APC will offer constructive criticism but will not go on character assassination. We will not sit and watch the state go into oblivion. Delta State with all its enormous resources cannot afford to be in opposition,” he stated.

With the APC at the centre, the Ugo of Okpe stressed that it was only proper for him to identify with the party instead of being in the opposition which he maintained will not do the state any good.

Speaking in the same vein, Ebifa, an erstwhile Commissioner of Economic Planning and Kubeyinje, his Agriculture and Natural Resources counterpart, hammered on the need for the state to join mainstream politics.