Following the defection of Gov. Godwin Obaseki of Edo from the ruling APC to the PDP, 106 members of the Action Democratic Party (ADP) have also defected to PDP.
The ADP defectors are from Egor, Ovia South West and Ovia North East Local Government Areas of Edo.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the defections came as Edo State gets set for a governorship election, described by analysts as a two-horse race between the PDP and APC.
The governorship election is slated for Sept. 19.
Mr Oshodin Izedomwen, the Organizing Secretary of the ADP in Edo, who led the defectors, said on Tuesday in Benin that the defection was part of their belief in the capacity of the PDP.
He recalled that he was a founding member of the PDP and that he left the party because of some persons, whom he described as “strange bed fellows” who came to join the PDP.
Izedomwen said that the other defectors and himself had now returned to the PDP because the “strange bed fellows had since left the party.
“In politics, interest matters because it is always the driving force,” he stated.
Receiving the defectors, the Edo State Chairman of the PDP, Dr. Tony Aziegbemi, expressed delight with the defectors.
He described the action of the new party members and their leader as a home coming.
Aziegbemi assured the defectors that they would be integrated into the PDP to contribute to the success of the party in the state.
On June 19, Obaseki defected from the APC to PDP, having been disqualified by the APC to contest for re-election on the platform of the party.
The governor, subsequently, clinched the gubernatorial ticket of the PDP on June 25, after three other aspirants stepped down for him.
