2023 ELECTION: HOW PDP LOSES DOZEN OF ACTIVE POLITICAL SUPPORT GROUPS TO TINUBU AND APC

It was a series of political engagements for the Coordinator North West APC Presidential Campaign Council Governor Bello Matawalle as he received comity of PDP political support groups who decided to defect the opposition PDP for the ruling All Progressive Congress APC. The APC North West Zonal Secretariat situated at Isah Kaita road Kaduna was filled to capacity as the groups mobilized supporters from across Jigawa, Kano, Katsina, Kaduna, Sokoto and Kano. The groups comprises the popular. Atiku Support Organization PDP Transformation Ambassadors Atiku Abubakar Kawai, PDP Mobilizers Initiative and Kasa Daya Al’umma Daya. Others are Atiku/Okowo Frontiers Movement G7 Business Community, Katsina Biyayya Forum, Atiku Women and Youth Initiative as well as Atiku Nigeria Transformation Ambassadors. The defection mantra attracted over 50,000 supporters from across the seven states of North West geo-political zone mostly involving youths, women and agile political class. They both expressed confidence with the political maturity of Governor Bello Matawalle in unifying the party and making the APC stronger in the North West geo-political zone. They also expressed dismay that they have to defect out of the PDP because the party and it’s Presidential candidate Atiku Abubakar have refused to appreciate the effort of the support groups in the mobilization Frontiers for the success of the party. Members of Atiku Support Organization and Atiku Abubakar Kawai specifically said they have invested heavily in the Atiku project since 2015 but noting that, nothing has came out of their suffering instead the candidate and indeed the party abandoned them to their fate. They both expressed regret that they have to waste much of their times working for a party that does not recognized their effort and as such insisted that time has come for them to move ahead with the APC and bring the desired changes for the country. G7 Business Community based in Kano and Katsina Biyayya Group explained that their movement is informed by the political behaviour of Bello Matawalle who is always advocating for true democratic reforms, Youth and women inclusion. The two political groups invited Governor Bello Matawalle to honor them by going to Kano and Katsina and inaugurate their campaign officea which they rebranded after Bola Ahmad Tinubu and Kashim Shatima. Governor Bello Matawalle who was looking visibly emotional thanked the young agile politicians for chosen to align with the Bola Ahmad Tinubu and APC noting that Tinubu project is the better option for transformed Nigeria. He recalled that APC is the only party that uphold to the principles of power rotation saying the highest justice to be done to the people of the South is to be able to shift power to their region so that justice and equality can be ensured. He told the defectees that Bola Tinubu has mapped out strategic development plans that would help consolidate the existing reforms embarked often by the party under President Muhammad Buhari. He urged Nigerians to ignore those antagonists that are trying to hide under the umbrella of religion and raised baseless arguments that are of no effects to the political development of Nigeria. He assured them of his commitment as the campaign Coordinator for Tinubu in ensuring that the defectees are well accommodated and also give them a sense of accommodation. He promised the two support groups that extended an invitation to him that he will personally visit Kano and Katsina state to commission the campaign offices and also provide them with all the logistics support required.