• Party to liberate Nigerians from hunger, insecurity, Melaye vows
A Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) stalwart in Kogi State, Senator Tunde Ogbeha, has dumped his party for the African Democratic Congress (ADC).

In a letter addressed to the Chairman of PDP Ward A Lokoja, Lokoja Council Area, and titled ‘Notice of resignation from PDP’, Ogbeha said: “I bring warm greetings to you and members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Lokoja Ward A, and by extension, to the entire Kogi State and Nigeria.

“I write to formally inform you of my decision to resign my membership of the party with immediate effect. You may recall that over the years, I have remained firm and deeply committed to the ideals of the PDP. Even when nearly all stakeholders departed the party following our loss in the 2015 presidential election, I pledged to remain the last man standing.

“I have worked steadfastly to rebuild, reconcile, and reposition the party, efforts which without sounding immodest helped restore the PDP to national relevance and made it once again a party of choice for many Nigerians.

“However, recent events marked by deepening divisions, persistent leadership crisis, and irreconcilable differences have reduced the party to a shadow of its former self, subjecting it to public ridicule.”

He added: “After wide consultations with my family, friends, and political associates, I have resolved to join the African Democratic Congress (ADC) as part of the collective effort to rescue our nation and preserve our hard-earned democracy.”

THIS is even as Senator Dino Melaye, who represented Kogi West between 2015 and 2019 on the PDP platform, has declared that Nigerians are trooping into the ADC because they are tired of hunger and insecurity, and have found the coalition party as a credible alternative to liberate themselves.

He made the submission while departing Kefas Multi-purpose Hall, Lokongoma, Lokoja after suspension of the official unveiling of the Kogi chapter of the party.

The Guardian reports that the North Central zone of ADC, led by Ogbeha, announced a suspension of the political rally in honour of the late President Muhammadu Buhari.

In an interview after the aborted rally, Melaye stated: “Nigerians are tired of managing incompetent government. Nigerians are tired of excuses of government over insecurity, it is time to kill hunger and insecurity before they kill us.

“The turn-out you see today is just the introduction, after this moment of mourning of our late President Buhari, we will return to formally unveil ADC in Kogi State. Even the handwriting on the wall is clear to the blind that the days of APC in political governance in Nigeria is over. The party to liberate Nigerians is here, ADC is the answer. Just keep watching.”

The PDP governorship candidate in the 2015 poll, Idris Wada, said: It’s my pleasure to use this unveiling ceremony to announce my membership of ADC in Kogi State, and I’m fully prepared to mobilise all citizens of Kogi State to join this coalition.”

A PDP House of Representatives candidate in 2023, Austin Okai, submitted: “ADC is a party of the people, our slogan is ‘Arise’ and that is a clarion call to all Nigerians to join the coalition as the only platform to liberate vulnerable Nigerians out of unending poverty occasioned by failed economic policies of the APC administration.”

Former deputy governor, Simon Achuba, stated: “In two years of the Tinubu administration, Nigerians are already craving for an alternative platform for change, that is the reason for this coalition. So, Nigerians should be patient as the true change is here.”
IN a related development, a coalition of opposition parties and members of the ADC in Kaduna State have vowed to wrest power from President Bola Tinubu at the 2027 general elections.

It also confirmed opposition leaders in the struggle to ensure that the ADC engages and defeats the All Progressives Congress (APC) at the next general elections.

Addressing at a press conference yesterday in Kaduna, spokesman of the ADC, Salihu Mohammed Lukeman, stated: “We are stakeholders of the Coalition of Political Opposition in Kaduna State, who are part of the national coalition and members of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Labour Party (LP),” pointing out that they are prepared to defeat the ruling APC under the coalition and ADC in 2027.