A prominent chieftain and former Gombe governorship aspirant of the Peoples Democratic Party, Jamil Isyaku Gwamna, has defected to the All Progressives Congress with thousands of his supporters ahead of 2023 national polls.
Gwamna who defected from the ruling All Progressives Congress in February 2022 to PDP challenged Muhammad Barde in the primary election and lost.
He was a top campaigner for PDP’s presidential candidate Atiku Abubakar, in the North-East, where he recently donated campaign office for the realisation of Abubakar’s dream.
While addressing a press conference, he announced his defection along with thousands of his supporters on Friday in Gombe State.
According to Gwamna, poor leadership, disunity, internal crisis, disregard for rule of law within the party are reasons for his decision to abandon the PDP.
Gwamna added that the leadership of the PDP in the state had poorly managed affairs of the party which led to several factions within the party.
He said his political ideology is anchored on unity, inclusiveness, fairness and justice and “if those are not found in the party then there is no reason to be in that camp.”
Gwamna disclosed that the PDP cannot manage Gombe State with the crop of leadership it has that prioritises personal interest against collective interest.
“In politics, internal democracy is very key and if you cannot find that playing out, then practising democracy on a larger platform such as governing the state becomes a big issue,” he stressed.
Gwamna said that the APC is more organised in Gombe State than any political party and has managed its affairs with a unified mindset.
He urged his loyalists and fans to mobilise grassroots support across the state to ensure that APC retains the state with a better voting margin than that of 2019.
