No elected Edo council chairman defected to APC, PDP clarifies

Group canvasses APC Edo Assembly Speaker as party holds majority
The Edo Chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), yesterday, said all its 18 democratically elected chairmen are with the party contrary to reports that they have defected to the APC.

The publicity Secretary of the Edo PDP Caretaker Committee, Chris Nehikhare, disclosed in Benin City.

He said that those who claimed to have defected were not local council chairmen but impostors because all duly elected chairmen under the PDP are still members.

A statement by the Chief Press Secretary to the Governor, Mr. Fred Itua, on Wednesday, said that 17 out of the 18 council chairmen had defected from PDP to APC.

The statement also quoted Governor Monday Okpebholo as predicting that President Bola Tinubu would win the 2027 election with a landslide.

However, Nehikhare dismissed the defection claim as misleading, clarifying that no PDP chairman had defected, adding that all PDP chairmen were still with the PDP.

Nehikhare described the report as unfortunate, stating that it was an attempt to deceive the public and maintain control within the party.

He said: “To set the record straight, contrary to the misleading claims made in the statement by the governor’s Chief Press Secretary, no single chairman of the PDP has decamped.

“All duly elected local council chairmen under the PDP in Edo are intact.

“The people whom they referred to as ‘chairmen’ in the statement are the illegal appointees whom they are trying to impose on local council areas.

”It is quite unfortunate that the situation has degenerated to the point where APC assembles impostors while trying to assure the President and their party leadership that they are in control.”

ALSO, following the recent defection of four lawmakers of Edo State House of Assembly to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state, a socio-political group, Edo North Conscience (ENC), yesterday, called for the removal of the Speaker of the State House of Assembly, Blessing Agbebaku, whose party, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), just lost majority control.

It was reliably gathered that the fate of the Speaker will be determined when the State House of Assembly reconvenes on April 7 after a recess by the leadership.

An expected shift is underway, fueled by fervent agitations from various concerned groups of the ruling APC, determined to unseat Agbebaku from his esteemed position. Leading the charge is the Edo North Conscience (ENC), a group known for its bold stance on political issues affecting the polity in the state.