By Barnabas Manyam (In Yola, Adamawa State)
In a dizzying political move, the Social Democratic Party (SDP) has collapsed it's North-East structure into the People's Democratic Party (PDP) and declared support for its Presidential candidate in today's election, Atiku Abubakar.
In a stunning move that caught public attention, the SDP also declared support for the Governor of Adamawa state, Ahmadu Umaru Fintiri who is seeking re-election in the Saturday March 11, 2023 governorship and State Assembly elections.
Leading the defection gale, is the North East Zonal chairman of the party, Mr. Danjuma Chikel, who said at a press conference in Yola, Adamawa State capital, that the party took the decision after a thorough assessment of the chances of their own candidates across the North East region in the on-going general elections.
In Adamawa state, 22 out of 34 Working Committee members of the party and 17 of the 21 local government Chairmen dumped the SDP during a meeting with the state Governor, Ahmadu Umaru Fintiri on Tuesday in Yola.
Leader of the delegation, Danjuma Chikel who is the Vice Chairman of Northern Zone of the SDP, decried the difficulty imposed on the masses by the All Progressives Congress (APC) led administration and restated their decision to work for the victory of Atiku Abubakar to emerge this week as President.
"We have decided to join the winning team by collapsing our structures to support Atiku Abubakar and Governor Fintiri," Chikel said.
He pledged that the decampees will mobilize massively for the victory of all PDP candidates. He task his followers to enlighten their supporters in the grassroots to vote for the PDP and not the SDP.
Responding, Governor Fintiri thanked the defectors for taking a bold decision in the interest of the country and the state, assuring them that they will not regret it.
He frowned at the challenges bedeviling the country at the moment, saying the Atiku project should be for the good of the country. He called on the defectors to come out en masse on election days on Saturday February 25th and Saturday March 11th and vote for all PDP candidates.
The SDP Adamawa State Gubernatorial candidate, Dr. Umar Ardo, and other top echelons decried this development. NNL.
