The All Progressives Congress in Bauchi state, northern part of Nigeria has witnessed an exodus of thousands of supporters with opposition parties benefiting.
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Some 4,500 members of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and Green Party of Nigeria (GPN) have defected to the New Nigeria People Party (NNPP) in Bauchi.
According to them, their defection on Saturday to the new party is aimed at dislodging the ruling APC in the state in 2019.
The defectors, led by a 2015 senatorial candidate under PDP, Umar Farouk are mostly from Bauchi North senatorial District and are members of the ruling APC and GPN comprising mostly of supporters of former Governor of Bauchi state, Mallam Isa Yuguda who recently joined the GPN after quitting PDP.
They were reportedly received by the state NNPP Chairman, Engineer Mohammed Barde at a grand reception during the inauguration of the party's Zonal Office in Azare, Katagum local government area where to received the defectors at the weekend.
Speaking, the state NNPP chairman promised to carry the new party members along and ensure justice and fairness among its members to make it the strongest opposition party not only in the state but in the country.
Barde pointed out that NNPP is now the strongest opposition party in the state and it intends to serve the people and save the citizens from anti democracy oriented parties.
He described the development as a great victory for NNPP and democracy in the state.
Reacting, leader of the defectors, Umar Farouk said they decided to defect to the NNPP because they were not getting dividends of democracy at the state level and the party is a youth driven party.
Farouk said that they resolved to move to NNPP after consultations and came to understand that there is no strong opposition party like NNPP in the state.