The Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in Kaduna State on Monday suffered a major set back as thousands of supporters of former Senator Shehu Sani defected to the All Progressives Congress, APC.
The defection of Sani’s supporters came on the heels of the PDP State Congress held last Saturday in Kaduna.
The decamping PDP members were welcomed at the APC office as theu paraded President Bola Tinubu, Governor Uba Sani and Shehu Sani’s portraits while chanting solidarity songs.
Shehu Sani, who represented Kaduna Central in the upper chamber of the National Assembly from 2015 to 2019, was a PDP gubernatorial aspirant during the 2023 general elections but lost at the primaries.
The decamping supporters, who came from the 23 local government areas in Kaduna State, stormed the 2023 APC Campaign Office at the NEPA Roundabout, by Muhammadu Buhari Way, chanting songs that suggested they are welcoming Shehu Sani back to the APC.
According to the supporters, they have persuaded their leader, Sani, to return to the ruling party and are convinced that he will officially decamp to the APC in the coming week.
One of the leaders of the decamping members and Sani’s former Campaign Director in the PRP, Monday Jaji, said he has been pushing for Sani’s defection for over two years because of his track record of achievements while he served as Senator of Kaduna Central on the platform of the APC.
Jaji described Shehu Sani as a man of the masses who stands for the truth.
According to him, “When he was a Senator, Comrade Sani built seven hospitals across his constituency. He distributed over 200 transformers to communities, assisted the poor masses, and even bought a house for destitutes in Kano Road. Shehu Sani built a hospital in Chikun and built three in Igabi Local Government, Rigachikun, and Giwa Local Government.”
Receiving the detectors, Kaduna State Chairman of the APC, Air Commodore Emmanuel Jekada (rtd), expressed delight on the return of the defectors to the APC, saying that the development will propel the APC and Kaduna State to greater heights.
