Ikimi: destination PDP

A former Nigerian foreign minister under the tyrannical regime of General Sani Abacha has abandoned the opposition  All Progressives Congress. He is believed to be on his way  to rejoining  the ruling Peoples Democratic Party, his old party.

Chief Tom Ikimi had  threatened to jump ship after the convention of the APC in Abuja in June. Ikimi wanted to become the pioneer chairman of the APC, but the party leadership backed Chief John Odigie Oyegun, a man with unassailable ‘progressive credentials’. Oyegun and Ikimi hail from Edo state, where Adams Oshiomhole, the former labour leader is the governor.

Frustrated, Ikimi said he would leave and in recent weeks, he had been making critical remarks about the leadership of APC.

Ikimi who was the  former chairman of the defunct National Republic Convention, the party that helped scuttle the June 12, 1993 election,  said in a letter to the leadership of APC on Tuesday that he was withdrawing his membership of the party.

“I have made the decision to withdraw my membership from the All Progressives Congress (APC) from today, 27th August 2014,″ Ikimi said in the letter.

It is not clear if, like others before him, the Edo State high chief will be joining the ruling Peoples Democratic Party, PDP.

The former minister of foreign affairs did not indicate his next political move in the letter.

He was not just a former member of Nigeria ruling party, he was also Chairman PDP National Convention Presidential Election Panel in January 2003.

Meanwhile, Governor Adams Oshiomhole of Edo State has described the defection of some prominent members of the All Progressives Congress, APC, as a blessing in disguise, saying that the defectors did not have the interest of Edo people at heart.