Major opposition parties in Akwa Ibom State have described claims by the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, of receiving 37,874 defectors as not only misleading and false but an attempt to score cheap political points.
It would be recalled that the PDP in an event held recently in Uyo, the state capital, said 37,874 members of opposition political parties in the state have joined the party.
In a reaction at the weekend, the All Progressives Congress, APC, Young Peoples Party, YPP and the New Nigeria Peoples Party, NNPP, among others said the figure presented by PDP was outrageous and unbelievable.
State Publicity Secretary of the APC, OtoAbasi Udo said, “The PDP is shopping for members by all means hence is inflating figures of those who have defected to its party.
“There is no way members of the APC can leave the party in droves because our party is at the centre and the leaders of the party in the state are strengthening the party.
“We are preparing to take over the state by 2027 and the signs are there. It is fear of the APC that is making PDP to make outrageous claims so it is not true that hundreds of our members have defected to the PDP.
“What you saw at the Ibom Hall Grounds was just a jamboree of deceit and grandstanding. Akwa Ibom people should not be deceived.”