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From Emmanuel Adeyemi, Lokoja
In what many have described as a terrible blow to the ruling All progressives Congress (APC) in Kogi State, Natasha Akpoti Uduaghan, ‘the Amazon of Kogi politics’, officially defected to the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) with thousands of her supporters on Saturday.
Natasha, the 2019 senatorial candidate of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) hails from the same central senatorial district of the state as Governor Yahaya Bello, and she is believed to be eyeing the senatorial seat which Governor Bello is said to be secretly desiring in case he fails in his bid to clinch the APC presidential ticket.
Both Natasha and Bello, who were in the ruling party before the 2019 election, are now said to be two sworn political enemies with Natasha having a huge support base in her Ebira district which pundits say is a serious threat to Yahaya Bello’s senatorial ambition.
In a colourful ceremony on Saturday, the decamping ceremony held at her country home of Ihima in Okehi LGA, the National Chairman of PDP Dr Iyorsha Ayu described the defector as a big fish and an amazon whose entry into the party has signified the death of APC in the state.
The chairman, who was represented by his National Secretary, Senator Sam Anyawu, at the crowd studded ceremony, said pulling Natasha into the party marks a new beginning for the PDP in rekindling its winning streak in the state.
The PDP chairman commended the people of the state for their resilience in standing against the misfortune of the ruling APC saying, with the calibre of defectors, the people have resolved to reclaim the state.
He noted with disgust the misery that the people have been subjected to in the last six years of this administration, and advise for collective determination to use the ballot to restore their dignity.
He disclosed that, although Natasha had defected three months ago, the Saturday ceremony was a formal declaration to join the party in order to contribute her quota, to the development and growth of PDP both at the state and national levels
He called on the electorate especially those from the Kogi Central to team up with her to rescue the state from the jaws of maladministration of Apc and assured of PDP‘s readiness to win all segments of the forthcoming general election.
In her speech, Natasha explained that her joining the PDP was to seek a more formidable platform to wrestle power from the APC.
She said, moving her structure to PDP was not a result of squabbles in SDP her erstwhile party, but to align forces with PDP which has a wider reach in order to send the APC out of power before wreaking more havoc on the state.
She lamented that the state with its abundant human and economic resources ought to be a giant in among the states, of the federation, but became a laughing stock due to bad governance by the ruling APC, which has inflicted on the people hunger and starvation, depravity, depression, infrastructural decay and now percentage salary payments to civil servants
While allaying the fears of a crisis in her former party, she disclosed that she moved with the state chairman Alhaji Mouktar Atima and the secretary and others in order to fortify the PDP to ensure her winning the forthcoming senatorial election.
She solicited the support of all well-meaning party members to see the defection as a service to the people of the senatorial district and the entire state.
