17/01/2017

APC Trying To Get Some PDP Governors For 2019

There are strong indications that the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) is making serious moves towards gaining grounds in South-East and South- South ahead of the 2019 elections.

The targets of the federal ruling party are some governors in the geo-political zones. The APC didn't perform well in the two zones in the 2015 general elections, losing most of the areas, save for Imo State to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

That is in addition to Anambra State, which has been in the hands of APGA. To this end, it was gathered that some APC leaders are dangling carrots of automatic re-election to some first term governors in the two zones.

With the exception of the Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike, who has proven a stubborn fly for the APC, sources said that other governors in the two zones, who are in their first terms, but do not belong to the APC, are being targeted for the cross-over onslaught.

Sources close to the APC told New Telegraph that top on the list of those being approached are the Anambra State Governor, Chief Willie Obiano; Ebonyi State Governor, Chief David Umahi; Abia State Governor, Dr. Okezie Ikpeazu; Cross River State Governor, Prof. Ben Ayade and that of Akwa Ibom, Mr. Udom Emmanuel.

It was gathered that towards achieving the goal, some top shots of the APC in the two regions have been reaching out to the governors, with a view to convincing them to join the APC and ditch the PDP.

The position of the APC stalwarts is strengthened by the continued crisis in the PDP, where the two arrowheads of the combat, Senator Ahmed Markarfi and Senator Ali Modu Sheriff are locked in a battle of supremacy over the control of the party.

“The lingering PDP crisis is a fertile ground and a good excuse for anybody to defect and abandon the party now. Of course, you know that factionalisation is one of the grounds allowed by the constitution for defection. So, it is a good excuse for anybody to use and leave PDP for now,” said a PDP leader and former minister. 

Obiano, whose election comes up first in the latter part of this year, is under serious pressure to move to APC since APGA is having pockets of crisis, which is threatening its unity.

“If he accepts to cross over to the APC, he will pick the ticket automatically,” said an APC chieftain from the South-East.

A source close to the governor said that the fear of the governor’s camp is that the rolling APC machine might complicate matters for him in the state.

“You can see how APC took Edo and Ondo states. You can also see how APC treated Governor Wike of Rivers State in the rerun election.

"Those are test runs for what the APC is planning for us this year and in 2019. If the governor does not play his game well,you know the APC will attempt to take him out. That is the fear.”

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