The gale of defections from the leading opposition party in Nigeria might be far from abating with a chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the South-South geo-political zone, Elder Power Ziakede Aginighan, announcing his defection to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) on Friday.
Aginighan, a Christian minister and erstwhile executive director (Finance and Administration) of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), formally announced he was quitting the PDP, along with over 2,000 of his followers, at a ceremony held on Friday at Bomadi, administrative headquarters of Bomadi Local Government Area of Delta State.
The former Delta State PDP governorship aspirant said that he decided to quit the PDP mainly because the party failed to meet his expectation of a new lease of life particularly for his people of Ijaw ethnic nationality through accelerated development.
Specifically, the one-time acting managing director of the NDDC said that the Ijaw nation has remained the goose that lays the proverbial golden egg but with next-to-nothing to show for it in terms of “dividends of democracy.
He said that he could no longer stomach the suffocating disappointment after his membership of the PDP for over 11 years and with the party at the helm of affairs both in Delta State and at the centre in Nigeria for 16 years, because parties ought to exist for the improvement of the lot of the generality of the people.
“I joined the PDP with the expectation that the legitimate yearnings of our people particularly the Delta Ijaw for better living conditions would be met”, he said, adding, “Eleven years after, I have come to the painful conclusion that there is no tangible improvement in the lot of our people.” Thisday
