Former gov aspirant, senator, others dump PDP

A former governorship aspirant of the Peoples Democratic Party, Air Vice Marshal Salihu Atawodi (retd.) and a former senator, Nicholas Ugbane, with scores of their supporters have defected from the PDP to the All Progressives Congress in Kogi state. Our correspondent learnt on Sunday that other PDP chieftains, who also defected during an APC zonal rally on Saturday at Ayingba, Kogi State, included a former Accountant General of the state, Mr. Ubolo Okpanachi; a former state chairman of the PDP, Mr. Emmanuel Ocheja; a former Chairman of the Kogi State Teaching Service Commission, Mallam Sani Ogu and a former member of the House of Representative, Samson Ihiabe. A former governor of the state, Prince Abubakar Audu, while addressing the rally said the defection of the former PDP stalwarts meant that the PDP is dead in the state. He urged the defectors to consider themselves as major players of the APC, assuring them of adequate integration and protection of their interests in the APC. Atawodi, who spoke on behalf of all the defectors, alleged that the ruling PDP was replete with people who were not in interested in national progress but were driven by personal gains. Ugbane said the PDP in the state was heading for the rocks and alleged that Kogi State remained the least developed state in Nigeria.