The leadership crisis rocking the Gombe State chapter of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) took a new twist on Saturday when a former deputy governor to ex-Governor Danjuma Goje of the state, John Lazarus Yoriyo, along with 14 others formally dumped the party back to the main opposition party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the state.
The politician formally announced his defection alongside others when he publicly addressed thousands of PDP supporters at a forum in Gombe, saying that he was not impressed with the happenings within the APC in recent months and the best thing was to leave the party back to the PDP where he initially belonged and that ruled the state for eight years.
Yoriyo’s return to the opposition Peoples Democratic Party where he was elected as deputy governor is coming on the heels of a similar defection to the PDP by APC gubernatorial aspirant, Jibrin Danbarde.
The defection of the 15 All Progressives Congress (APC), stalwarts to the PDP with thousands of their supporters held the state standstill as the Police battled to control traffic at the PDP secretariat.
In his speech at the reception for him and others, Yoriyo said he left APC because he was not impressed with the happenings in the government formed by the party.
According to him, PDP remained the best political party ever when compared to what is obtainable in the APC.
“I went to APC, and I have seen everything that happened there. However, what is happening there is not encouraging. PDP is the best place to ever be,” he said.
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He urged his teeming supporters to get their voter cards ready to vote out the APC in the coming 2023 general election.
“I wish to appeal to thousands of our supporters to get their Permanent Voters Card (PVC) ready, ahead of 2023 elections,” Yoriyo said.
Welcoming the APC stalwarts back to the PDP, the Chairman, Maj. Gen. Abnor Kwaskebe, lauded the determination of the defectors in retracing their steps back to the party.”
Observers say that with the return of John Yoriyo who served as deputy governor under former Governor Muhammad Danjuma Goje in the state, it is just a matter of time before the former governor himself will stage a come back to the PDP had lost his leadership role in the APC to the Governor, Muhammadu Inuwa Yahaya who was regarded as his political son.
