Barely three days to commencement of the 2023 general elections, there has been defections across political parties in Jigawa State.
The prominent cases include two gubernatorial candidates, their supporters and a serving member of the House of Representatives, Muhammad Adamu Fagengawu.
There is also a former Dutse Council chairman, Zubairu Abaya, alongside 2,000 All Progressives Congress (APC) supporters across 11 wards, who defected from the ruling party to the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
Briefing reporters in Dutse, Fagengawu, who represents Garki/Babura Federal Constituency, said he left APC to assist the governorship candidate of the PDP, Mustapha Sule Lamido, whom he described as a friend and schoolmate.
“He is a young person; the same age as I. If I can’t help a friend, whom will I help? That is the main reason I decided to join forces, to help him deliver the mandate,” he said.
He also refuted insinuations that he dumped the party because he was denied a return ticket to the National Assembly.
The governorship candidate of African Democratic Congress (ADC), Ibrahim Suleiman, and his Allied Peoples Movement (APM) counterpart decamped to the ruling APC.
Habiba Nuhu Kila, the media aide to Governor Mohammed Badaru Abubakar, who confirmed in a statement the defection of the ADC and ARM candidates, alongside thousands of their supporters, said the duo, pledged their loyalty to the APC in the state.
The candidates, who were led by their respective chairmen, Alhaji Ibrahim Shehu and Dr. Sani Gumel, were received at Government House by Governor Abubakar.
Kila said: “In their separate speeches, the chairmen of ADC and APM in the state, Shehu and Gumel, said all the candidates have resolved to support APC during the forthcoming elections.”
He said the decision was taken after a meeting with state and local council executives of the party.
