The former Chairman, Plateau State Chapter of the All Progressives Congress, APC Hon. Latep Dabang and hundreds of his supporters have decamped from their former Party to the opposition, Peoples Democratic Party, PDP in the State.
Dabang was suspended and removed from office under controversial circumstances and has since remained silent on political issues until he recently met with some PDP bigwigs in the State before he publicly joined the PDP on Tuesday.
Some of those who decamped with him are former members of the State House of Assembly, Hon. Nanpon Tom and former State Assistant Secretary of the APC Hon. Binkur N. and others, alongside their supporters.
The decampees were received on Tuesday, during the Langtang Mega Rally 2022 tagged: “The Great Movement.”
Speaking to newsmen shortly after receiving the PDP flag at the Langtang North township Stadium Hon. Latep Dabang said PDP will take over the State in 2023 and called on “all right-thinking persons in Plateau State who are in APC to return home to the PDP.”
Latep also foresees victory for the PDP in the forthcoming Pankshin South State Constituency and Bassa/Jos North Federal Constituency by-election slated for 26th February 2022, saying, “I have a full assurance that PDP will win because I don’t have any doubts in my mind. Plateau people will say bye bye to APC.”
The State PDP Chairman, Chris Hassan said with the defection of this heavyweight from APC to the opposition party, they expect total victory in the 2023 general election in the State.
But the State Publicity Secretary of APC, Sylvanus Namang says Dabang has the freedom to join a party of his choice.
According to him, “That is the freedom of expression, he has gone to where he thinks is better for him but if I were him, I would have remained in the APC because the PDP in Plateau is not an alternative to APC. Yes, there were circumstances of his leaving the APC, if I were him, I would have waited to sort out the issues from within. Moving to that Party is like an acceptance of what he was accused of in the APC.