Bello Matawalle, governor of Zamfara, has officially defected from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressives Congress (APC).
At a rally organised for the Zamfara governor in Gusau, the state capital, on Tuesday, Matawalle was presented with the APC flag by Mai Mala Buni, governor of Yobe and chairman of the APC caretaker committee.
Present at the rally alongside other APC stakeholders included Nasir el-Rufai, Yahaya Bello, and Abdullahi Ganduje — governors of Kaduna, Kogi and Kano, respectively.
Matawalle, who expressed delight on being received into the party, called for cooperation among stakeholders to develop the state.
“As from today, I, Bello Matawallen Maradun, governor of Zamfara, am happy to announce my defection from the PDP to the APC. As from today, I am a full APC member and leader of APC in Zamfara,” he said.
“I am calling on all APC stakeholders in the state to join hands with me to build the party and move the state forward.”
Speaking at the rally, Buni declared the Zamfara governor as the new leader of the party in the state.
“I am happy to announce that APC has received Matawalle, three senators, six house of reps members and 24 members of the state house of assembly who defected from the PDP to the APC,” the Yobe governor said.
“As we all know, according to the party’s constitution, President Muhammadu Buhari is our leader at the national level and in each state, the sitting governor from the party is the APC leader in that state. Therefore, Matawalle is the new leader of the party in Zamfara.
“With this development, all the party executives at the state, local governments and ward level are hereby dissolved.”
Meanwhile, Mahdi Aliyu, Zamfara deputy governor, was absent at the defection rally. Aliyu is also yet to announce if he will defect alongside his principal.
