Mass defection to APC hits Cross River PDP

As more people continue to join Cross River State Governor Prof. Ben Ayade to defect to the All Progressives Congress (APC) from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), more praises have continued to trail the governor’s action.

This time, the Presidency has praised him for the move. Expressing excitement at Governor Ayade’s movement, Senior Special Assistant to President Muhammadu Buhari on Media and Publicity, Mallam Garba Shehu, said Cross River stands to reap the fruits of the governor’s movement to the APC in the long run.

While speaking on the sidelines of the award of the Governor of the Year on Agro-Industrialisation on Ayade by the Blueprint Newspapers at the Congress Hall of the Transcorp Hilton, Abuja, last week, Garba Shehu said:  “I will just say we are excited about his coming to the APC.”

The Presidential spokesman, who said the governor has a lot to bring to the table noted that “Ayade is a man of huge intellectual capacity and I think in terms of governance, he is the best.”

Continuing, he said: “The President has been to Cross River State a couple of times. We went with the President and we saw the very innovative things he is doing with agriculture and all of that. So, it is a big plus for APC and we are quite pleased that he has joined us.”

On the Governo-of-the-Year awarded to Ayade, Garba Shehu said Ayade merited it, hinting that “all the awards are merited. So, I congratulate him. I will tell him that he is material for national politics beyond Cross River.”

In a related development, the Deputy Speaker of Cross River State House of Assembly, Joseph Bassey, the Chief Whip of the State Assembly, Okon Ephraim, the Chairman of Calabar South Local Government Council, Esther Bassey, the 12 elected Councilors of the Local Government Council and two commissioners of the State Executive Cabinet yesterday formally defected to the All Progressives Congress as they all registered as members of the party at their various political wards.