A former Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential aspirant, Stanley Osifo, on Thursday night, declared support for President Muhammadu Buhari by announcing his defection to the All Progressives Congress (APC).
According to Premium Times, Osifo told journalists at a press conference, in Lagos, that he is leaving the PDP with, at least, “10 million” of his followers after realising that the party was not in the best position to deliver Nigeria to the desired destination.
His words: “I believe if not for the coincidence in the postponement of the presidential elections from February 16 to 23, the announcement had been planned for this day (Thursday 21, 2019).
“I strongly believe in the decision taken and the whole world should know. “Also, I want to state clearly that, my supporters and I are giving our unflinching support to the re-election of the incumbent president, Muhammadu Buhari, and all other governors, senators, from top to bottom under the platform of the APC.”
Osifo commended the APC-led government and urged Nigerians to vote for the party in the coming elections.
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“The fight against insurgency has been dealt with to a large extent. Many of us today will tell ourselves the truth, infrastructural development that we can see all over the country today is the handiwork of the present administration,” he said.
Osifo added that his ‘millions’ of followers are moving with him to the APC. He said, “My structure base spread across the 36 states of the federation, I can assure you today that millions of Nigerians are moving with me to the APC.
“We remain optimistic that nothing less than 10-15 million Nigerians, particularly those within the strata of young people who are going to move to join the APC.
“I have looked at the PDP and the APC, the fight against corruption is being carried out holistically, they are doing a lot in infrastructure, in the past few months, our GDP has increased.
“So all these informed my decision to decamp and support what is going on.” Explaining the reasons behind his defection, Osifo said he was not paid by anybody to defect to the ruling party.
He said, “The reason why I chose the APC is based on what I see and believe. If I were to become president as a young person, I know that what has been laid down as a foundation by the APC, are things I will build on.
“I have made consultations widely, but with the party, I am going to, I believe absolutely, there is no way you are moving that you would move aimlessly.
“I believe my future with the APC is very bright, right now, the focus should be on the elections.”
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Prior to his defection, Osifo had appealed to the PDP leadership to allow him participate in its presidential primaries. Osifo, during a media briefing on Thursday, October 4, 2018 in Lagos, said his being the youngest in the race had a huge advantage for the PDP to win the 2019 presidential election.
The 42-year-old aspirant, who hails from Edo state, said the party was known to obey rule of law, and his candidature was a true test of the Not Too Young to Run Act.
He said some people had approached him to step down, but he had a vision to drive development of Nigeria which older politicians could not achieve.
