Dr Babayo Liman, the North-East Secretary of the New Nigeria People's Party (NNPP), and many of the party's supporters have defected to the main opposition People's Democratic Party in anticipation of the impending general election in 2023. (PDP).
"We are here to inform you, the general public, and our teaming supporters of about 600,000 in the six North-Eastern states of my decision to dump the NNPP," Dr Lima said in a press conference in Damaturu, Yobe State.
Lima also claimed that some 170,000 of his fans are defecting from him.
He declared, “I am a member of the Kwankwasiyya movement and the North-East Secretary of the NNPP. The party lacked structure and focus to address the problems of Nigerians”.
“For over five months the NNPP leadership could not resolve some internal crisis, so I decided to resign my appointment and join the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in support of the presidential candidate of the party, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar”.
“As part of a tradition, when a leader defects from one political party to the other, he needs to inform his supporters of his decision. So I consider it my responsibility to go around the 6 North-Eastern States to inform them of my decision and position; this is why I am here.
He said that one of the reasons he joined the PDP was that “the 16 years of PDP administration in Nigeria was a great success to all Nigerians. The issue of insecurity was only in some parts of the country then but did not escalate and spread across all parts of the country as it is under the present administration of APC”.