By Chioma Onuegbu, Uyo

THE People’s Democratic Party, PDP, Akwa Ibom State chapter has received no fewer than twenty thousand decampees from opposition political parties across the 329 wards of the state, ahead of the 2023 general elections.

The State governor and leader of the party Mr. Udom Emmanuel disclosed this weekend to newsmen after the Awa Iman Ward 1 PDP meeting, held at Awa Iman Civic centre, his hometown in Onna local government Area.

Emmanuel described the defection of party faithful including key stakeholders from opposition political parties in Akwa Ibom State as an indication of PDP’s predominance.

He explained that the purpose of the Ward meeting scheduled to hold simultaneously in all the 329 wards of the state was to strengthen the party and to reassure the people that Akwa Ibom remains a PDP State.

He assured both the new and returning members of a sense of belonging in the party, and charged PDP supporters and stakeholders across the wards to embrace and integrate the decampees back to the fold.

His words: “We are holding Ward meetings to look at our ward structures, to do a review and also receive decampees. In all the 329 wards of the State we are receiving returnees to the party, twenty thousand (20,000) people returning to the party.

“And there’s no way we could have done that at one location. What we are doing today is also to reassure the people that this is a PDP state and that we are ready to hold the ground and win the game.

“You can see that the who-is-who in the ward is here and as a party man I have also come down to my ward because nobody is above the party”.

The governor while addressing party faithful during the Awa Iman ward1 meeting earlier,
assured those who participated, but could not win in the just concluded party primaries of inclusion in governance.

“In any election, one person has to emerge because there is only one seat to occupy, but all hopes are not lost for the others . Government is large enough to accommodate diverse interests. In politics it is necessary to build trust. Be steadfast so that you can be trusted”, the governor reiterated.

Speaking on behalf of decampees, a former Vice Chairman of Onna Local Government Council and Chapter Secretary of the All Progressives Congress(APC), Hon. Julius Okon, appealed to the governor and the leadership of PDP to protect the interest of all decampees in the entire Onna LGA.

Okon said their decision to return to the PDP was because they are impressed with the laudable development strides of the Governor Emmanuel led government, and assured that they would support the governor’s succession plan.

He explained that his defection from the PDP to the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) and later to the APC followed his close ties with some persons in the opposition party, saying that now he has decided to return, to the party where he had been a foundation member, alongside his supporters.