In a dizzying political move just barely three days to the presidential election in Nigeria, the Social Democratic Party (SDP) has collapsed it’s North-East Structure into the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and declared support for the Presidential canditate of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar.
In a stunning move that caught the attention of the country some elements within the
SDP, also declared support for the Governor of Adamawa state, Ahmadu Umaru Fintiri who is seeking reelection.
Leading the defection is the North East zonal chairman of the party, Mr. Danjuma Chikel, who said at a press conference in Yola that the party took the decision after a thorough assessment of the chances of their own candidates across the North East region in the forthcoming 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, the state capital.
Leader of the delegation, Danjuma Chikel who is the Vice Chairman 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 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 tasking his followers to enlighten their supporters in the grassroots to vote for the party 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, calling on the defectors to come out en masse on election day to vote for all PDP candidates come Saturday 25 February.
The SDP Adamawa State Gubernatorial candidate Dr. Umar Ardo, and other top echelons decried this development.
