Ahead of the general election in 2023, hundreds of members of the ruling Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) and All Progressives Congress (APC), have cross carpeted to the third force, the Social Democratic Party (SDP), a social movement in Agbowhiame Community, Ughelli south local government area of Delta State.
The defection took place on Tuesday September 13th 2022, at the Community Town Hall in Agbowhiame, Ughievwen kingdom.
Receiving the defectors, the governorship candidate of the party and former minister of State for education, Olorogun Barr. Kenneth Gbagi, assured the new members of justice, fairness and equity among members of SDP.
He called on others to join the party, just as he described SDP as a winning party, “Be members of the Social Democratic Party”, he wooed.
He tasked the President General of the community, Engr. Richard Vwejoyen Ebor, his executives, including the entire community to work for SDP in the next year’s election.
He said, “We are very happy to have PDP and APC members in our midst and we believe that it will boost the moral of our great party, it is a welcome development.
“I have come to inform you that I am contesting the governorship and by the grace of God, Ughievwen will produce the next governor. Vote for me Gbagi, your brother from Ughievwen. Hold this place very strong”, he said
Earlier, the President General, Engr. Richard Vwejoyen Ebor, also described the development as a dawn of a new era.
He said the mass defection to SDP was expected “because we are all living in this state and we know how it is today.”
“We can all see that Nigeria, even Delta State is no longer at ease. Is it in terms of security or education? Our sons and daughters have been at home for the past six months now due to the ASUU strike and our mothers cannot go to the farm, it is purely a leadership failure.
“We can’t continue like this. The APC and PDP governments have failed woefully. When Goodluck Jonathan was there as a president, we knew how the country was and we know how it is today.
“That is why we are saying no to the PDP and APC governments come 2023 general election. Nigerians and Deltans should vote out PDP and APC from ward level to the federal level. They have done havoc, they have failed woefully.”
Giving his assurances to the SDP gubernatorial candidate, he said: “I mobilized when I was told that you were coming because when you enter as governor, we have also entered.
“The governors that have ruled Delta State and the one still ruling now, no one among them has visited this community, you are the first contesting for the governorship that is visiting us.
“We don’t know any other candidate but let them come. It is SDP that we are going to vote for. We cannot go back to Egypt, we are leaving Egypt now and going to the promise land which SDP will take us to.
“Don’t let them deceive you. On the day if the election, I will be here, ask me any question you want on that day before you vote. Don’t let them deceive you by giving you N2, 000 for another four or eight years of slavery”, he noted.
Speaking on behalf of the decampees, a member of the PDP, who equally dumped the party, Henry Apah, said the programme was to celebrate “the defectors who have seen that SDP is the only party that can rescue the State in the forthcoming general election.
He said the SDP had a brighter future compared to the ruling PDP and APC.
“That is why I will advise those if us that are defecting from the PDP and APC to the SDP to compare and contrast.
“They should stay and continue doing well because our new party, SDP has a brighter tomorrow,” he stated.
The decampees dropped their brooms and umbrellas which were set ablaze before picking the membership card of SDP.
