The Edo State APC has said that it would soon release the names and photographs of the 17 Local government chairmen who defected from the PDP even as it insists that it points to evidence of the publicโs rejection of the PDP.
The party’s position is contained in a statement by Barr Peter Uwadiae Igbinigie the State Publicity Secretary on the defection of Rt. Hon. Blessing Agbebaku, Speaker of the Edo State House of Assembly from PDP to the APC, which has ignited a war of words between the two parties.
Igbinigie was reacting to the development, after the PDP, through its Caretaker Chairman, Tony Aziegbemi, downplayed the significance of the LGA council Chairmen and the Speaker’s defection, describing it as โthe public unveiling of a long-standing betrayal.โ
According to Aziegbemi, Agbebaku had been secretly aligned with the APC for months, especially evident in his actions surrounding the suspension of elected PDP local government chairmen.
โThe event in Benin City was not a defection but a coronation of a man who has long since left our party in principle,โ Aziegbemi said. He accused the Speaker of colluding with APCโs governorship candidate, Senator Monday Okpebholo, to undermine the PDP-led administration at the grassroots level.
According to him, the refusal to reinstate suspended PDP chairmen even after the expiration of their suspension further confirmed Agbebakuโs political bias.
Aziegbemi described the defection as โa classic case of political opportunism, driven by ambition and personal interest, not ideological conviction.โ He also challenged the APC to substantiate its claim that 17 council chairmen had joined the party, arguing that only political appointeesโrather than elected officialsโhad actually defected.
However, Igbinigie dismissed Aziegbemiโs assertions, likening them to the โrants of a drowning party clinging to denial.โ He argued that if Agbebaku had indeed been an APC loyalist, the PDP should have taken action much earlier.
โAgbebakuโs defection is not just symbolicโit marks the crumbling of the PDPโs credibility and structure in Edo State,โ Igbinigie said. He further attacked the PDPโs claims over council chairmen, asserting that the Obaseki-led administration had installed loyalists through illegal caretaker appointments, not credible elections.
The APC Publicity Secretary criticized Aziegbemi for invoking the term โholocaustโ in his statement, calling it โreckless and insensitive.โ He concluded that Edo is not in turmoil but undergoing โa political awakeningโ as more stakeholders distance themselves from what he called โa dying party led by self-serving elites.โ




































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