Former Secretary to the Edo State Government, who contested the last governorship election in the state, on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu had defected to the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC.
Ize-Iyamu, who confirmed the move in a telephone interview with Tribune Online on Tuesday, said that he decided to yield to pressure from his supporters who have persistently pleaded with him to “return home.
The former South-South zonal vice-chairman of the APC who is presently in Abuja to strategize his declaration said that he succumbed to pressure from his supporters because of the disarray within the rank of the opposition party.
He said that having done his best to reconcile the warring parties within the PDP without success, he decided to call it quit and was fully set to join the APC.
He said that he was in Abuja to meet with the top leadership of the party so as to perfect the plan for the defection which will take place at a grand rally to be held in the Edo State capital.
Ize-Iyamu, however, insisted that as a founding member of the Action Congress (AC) which metamorphosed to the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) and later the APC following the merger of several parties, he was merely returning home and not defecting.
He said: “It is true that I am leaving the PDP for the APC. I am not defecting but merely returning home. I am quitting the PDP because of the too many problems bedevilling the party which I have tried in my own way to resolve without success. It is not a rumour, I am going back home to APC.”
Only recently, a pressure group, PDP Integrity Group suspended the trio of the former Foreign Affairs Minister, Chief Tom Ikimi, former Chief of Staff to the President, Chief Mike Oghiadohme and former ex-Minister of Works, Mr. Mike Onolememen from the party over alleged anti-party activities.
Meanwhile, the PDP says it has expelled Pastor Ize-Iyamu. This was disclosed in a statement by the Publicity Secretary of the party, Chris Nehikhare. The statement explained that the move followed his refusal to confirm or refute his rumored defection to the APC. The statement added that the expulsion would remain in force until he “acknowledges, accepts and addresses the issue of his decamping to APC.”
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