7000 members of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Benue State have defected to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in a bid to show their support for Senator David Mark who will be contesting the February 20 Senatorial rerun elections in the state, reports say.
The mass defection is said to have occurred on Thursday, February 4, 2016, in Otukpa in the Ogbadibo Local Government Area of the state, according to Daily Post.
The defectors were reportedly led to abandon the APC ship by PDP chieftain in the area, Matthew Ochigbo.
“What over 7,000 of you have done today in Otukpa clearly shows that those who recently left the PDP after riding on the crest of the party and the goodwill of Senator David Mark are standing alone even in their own localities,” the Director General of the David Mark re-election campaign organisation, Abba Moro said while receiving the defectors.
“The coming rerun election will be an opportunity for all Idoma sons and daughters to move against the wicked plot of some external forces to demean our people.
“It will also be a better platform for us to publicly demonstrate our unalloyed support to a course that holds a better prospect for our people in general,” he added.
The rerun polls were ordered after Mark’s March 28, 2015 election victory was nullified by the Court of Appeal sitting in Makurdi.
He will be contesting alongside APC senatorial candidate for Benue South, Donald Onjeh.
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