Senate Minority Leader Enyinnaya Abaribe has finally abandoned the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the main opposition party.
Senator Abaribe confirmed his membership in the All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA) to Vanguard in Umuahia on Friday.
He stated that he would run for Senate again in 2023 on the APGA platform.
Abaribe pulled out of the PDP governorship race on Tuesday, citing a lack of transparency and the failure to hold a three-man delegate congress.
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Six other PDP governorship candidates withdrew from the race ahead of the party’s primaries on Wednesday, claiming foul play and a plot by some forces to force a preferred candidate on the party.
APGA’s leadership paid a visit to Abaribe on Sunday, pleading with him and other progressives to join the party.
The APGA offered Abaribe a free senatorial ticket if he wanted it, but the Senate Minority Leader asked for time to consult with his constituents and political associates.
Abaribe told our correspondent that he had decided to join APGA and that he will run in the party’s senatorial primary on Saturday.
He also stated that he had resigned from the PDP and was fully registered with the APGA.
Abaribe will now face Gov. Okezie Ikpeazu, the PDP’s candidate for the seat.
Senator Abaribe “is now fully with APGA,” according to a member of the APGA Board of Trustees, Chief Ahamdi Nweke.
“Abia’s most senior senator has joined progressives in the fight to free the state from the crutches of the forces that have kept it down,” he said.
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“He’ll be accompanied by tens of thousands of PDP members who are angry about the party’s lack of internal democracy.”
PDP Chairman Rev. Augustine Ehiemere told Vanguard on Thursday that the party would confirm Abaribe’s membership soon.
He predicted that the PDP in Abia would crumble by the time what was about to happen happened.
