Ben Ayade, the Cross River State governor has dumped the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and announced his defection to the All Progressives Party (APC).
He has also declared Cross River as an APC state.
Ayade made the announcement on Thursday morning after a meeting with some APC governors and members of the National Assembly at Cross River Government House.
Members of the State Executive Council were also present at the meeting held to effect Ayade’s defection to the ruling party from the PDP.
Ayade successfully ran for the office of governor in 2015 on the PDP platform and won re-election for a second term in 2019 under the same party, defeating the APC’s and other minor parties’ candidates.
It was, however, reported that the governor had lamented over the conduct of the PDP ward and local government executives a few weeks ago, threatening to decamp if his complaints were not addressed.
Chairman of the PDP Governors’ Forum Aminu Tambuwal, along with two other governors, had visited the aggrieved governor and held extensive discussions which lasted about two hours.
Tambuwal described the discussions as fruitful and productive, stating that the report of the meeting would be taken back to the Governors’ Forum for deliberation and action.
National Publicity Secretary Kola Ologbondiyan had hinted that the APC was embarking on a wild goose chase by going after a committed member of the party.
“The APC should be made aware that Governor Ayade has assured our party of his unalloyed loyalty,” he had said.
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