A former national chairman of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP), Professor Rufai Ahmed Alkali and the candidate of the NNPP in the March 18 governorship election in Kaduna State, Senator Sulaiman Othman Hunkuyi, have defected to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
Alkali and Hunkuyi were received into the party on Tuesday by the national chairman of the APC, Abdullahi Ganduje.
Also, a former national legal adviser of NNPP, Prof. Bem Angwe, along with 23 others from NNPP and PDP, joined the ruling party.
Alkali, who spoke on behalf of the defectors, said they didn’t join APC because it is the ruling party but because it is the best vehicle if they must make progress politically.
“The good news we are bringing to you and to the APC today is that we are here just as representatives of the multitude of hundreds of thousands of our supporters, friends, associates, and well-wishers within the NNPP and PDP nationwide who were earnestly waiting for this historic day,” he said.
In his response, Ganduje claimed that NNPP has been hijacked and polluted by an association called Kwankwassiya.
The APC national chairman pledged that the defectors would be given a level playing field and carried along in the scheme of things in the party.
Ex-NNPP National Chairman Alkali, Kaduna guber candidate Hunkuyi defect to APC