Enyinnaya Abaribe, the Senate Minority Leader, has finally dumped the main opposition Peoples Democratic Party, or PDP.
Senator Abaribe confirmed his membership in the All Progressive Grand Alliance, APGA, to Vanguard in Umuahia on Friday.
He stated that he would seek re-election to the Senate in 2023 on the APGA platform.
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Abaribe withdrew from the PDP governorship race on Tuesday, citing a lack of transparency and the failure to hold a three-man delegate congress.
Six other PDP governorship candidates withdrew from the race ahead of the party’s primaries on Wednesday, citing foul play and a plot by some forces to force a preferred candidate on the party.
Last Sunday, APGA’s leadership paid a visit to Abaribe and pleaded with him and other progressives to join the party.
Abaribe was offered a free senatorial ticket by the APGA, but he declined because he needed time to consult with his constituents and political associates.
Abaribe told our Correspondent that he had made up his mind to join APGA and that he would be participating in the party’s senatorial primaries on Saturday.
He also stated that he had resigned from the PDP and was now fully registered with the APGA.
As a result of the latest development, Abaribe will face Gov. Okezie Ikpeazu, the PDP’s candidate for the position.
Senator Abaribe “is now fully with APGA,” according to Chief Ahamdi Nweke, a member of the APGA Board of Trustees.
“Abia’s most senior senator has joined progressives in the fight to free the state from the crutches of the forces that have held it down,” he said.
” He’ll be accompanied by hundreds of thousands of PDP members who are angry about the party’s lack of internal democracy.”
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On Thursday, PDP Chairman Rev. Augustine Ehiemere told Vanguard that the party would soon confirm whether Abaribe was with them or not.
He predicted that the PDP in Abia would crumble by the time what was about to happen occurred.
