The chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Rivers, Emeka Beke, on Wednesday said he is not aware that 27 lawmakers have defected from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to his party.
Multiple reports on Monday said 27 members of the Rivers State House of Assembly left the PDP for the APC, bringing another twist to the political tension in the state.
Beke while speaking during an interview on ARISE TV, however, said he is not aware that some lawmakers from the PDP joined the APC despite being the chairman of the party in Rivers state.
“Yesterday morning at about 10 o’clock, I watched on the TV that 27 lawmakers from the PDP were defecting to the All Progressives Congress,” Beke said.
“As the state chairman of the APC duly elected on the 26th of October, 2021, I am not aware that the PDP lawmakers are joining our political party.
“Up till now, I am not aware. I hear some people somewhere, claim that caretaker members of our party received the defectees yesterday. However, I am still waiting to know whether they are members of our political party.”
He said this is because if anyone wants to defect to a political party, they need to have a structure on how to go about it.
According to him, firstly, if they have to decamp, they have to go to their wards and register with the chairmen of their wards.
“Their ward chairman will in turn bring them to the local government and from the local government to the state,” Beke said.
“Those are the processes of coming to join our political party. You cannot just join the party from the centre.
“Uptil now, I don’t have any knowledge about the 27 lawmakers joining the APC in Rivers state.”
Peoplesmind
