Barring any last minute changes, some prominent members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Cross River state will be defecting to the All Progressives Congress (APC).
Among those who are expected to decamp is a former leader of the Senate, Victor Ndoma-Egba, This Day reports.
Others are the former minister of health and works Dr. Emmanuel Nsan, who served during the military regime of President Muhammadu Buhari; a former governorship aspirant of the PDP, Goddie Jedy Agba, and activist and anti-corruption crusader, Chief Utum Eteng.
A former senatorial aspirant of the PDP, Chief Sam Bassey, third Republic governor of the state, Clement Ebri, who sources said worked silently for Buhari during the build-up to the last general election, and thousands of other members of the PDP are expected to defect.
According to reports, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo and the national chairman of the APC, Chief John Odigie Oyegun, are set to go to Calabar, the state capital, to receive the defectors.
A reliable source within the APC disclosed that the governor of Nasarawa state, Alhaji Ibrahim Al-Makura and some members of the National Executive Committee of the APC will be part of the entourage that will receive the decampees.
It was further reported that preparations were underway to formally receive the decampees into the APC at a rally billed for the UJ Esuene Stadium, Calabar.
The rally has been reportedly scheduled for a day within the last week of August and the first week of September this year, when the state chapter of the APC will host the party’s south south zonal meeting.
Some months back reports surfaced that Ndoma- Egba was under heavy pressure from the APC to defect from the PDP. The APC was said to have sent party chiefs and senators as emissaries to him but Ndoma refused to yield to their demands.
Almost all his supporters in the state are said to have defected to the APC and have been urging him to follow suit.
Ndoma-Egba was elected into the Senate in 2003 on the platform of the PDP to represent Cross River Central. He became Senate leader in 2011.
