From Okey Sampson, Umuahia

Abia State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has faulted claim by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the state that over 3, 000 of APC and All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), have joined it’s fold.

A statement by the state publicity secretary of APC, Benedict Godson said the report of stewardship given by the PDP Chairman, Hon. Asiforo Okere that 3,000 members from the APC and APGA was simply “tales by moonlight”.

The statement read in part, “politics is not a market square. It’s an activity that involves leaders and followers. Whenever APC announce a defection into our party, we tell people about the leaders whose followers in any local government or ward have decided to move with into APC.

This does not in anyway limit the powers of other persons who are not leaders in the party, because they have right to take decisions, but take it or you leave it, in every political movement, there must be leaders and there must be followers. That’s how it works.

“We challenge Hon. Asiforo Okere to give us names of prominent APC leaders that took their followers into PDP making up the fictitious, inexistent and ‘ghost-mode’ 3,000 persons he narrated about at Okpara Auditorium as comic relief to the tragedy already befalling the PDP.

“When Dr. Alex Otti, a strong force in APGA moved into APC with his followers it was clear. Also when Hon. Emeka Atoma, immediate past National Organizing Secretary of SDP, moved into APC with his followers and when Hon. Sam Onuigbo, former PDP serving member of the House of Representatives for ikwuano/Umuahia federal constituency, moved into APC, it wasn’t an amusing tale. Even the PDP felt the pain to the extent that they even protested against it”.

Mentioning Chiefs Henry Ikoh, Obinna Oriaku and Hon. Ugochukwu Allen all former PDP chieftains in the state who recently defected to APC, Godson said PDP cooked the defection story because it was aware that more of their top notchers would soon join APC.

“They know that National Assembly members and many State Assembly members from their party are gearing towards joining the APC and they think with that bogus claim, people will believe they are still waxing strong in the state”.

Godson asked PDP to mention the names of the top APC members who left for the PDP.