The 2023 Governorship candidate of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) in Gombe State, Khamisu Ahmed Mailantarki, has defected to the People’s Democratic Party (PDP).
Mailantarki resigned from the NNPP in July, but didn’t immediately join another political party.
Speaking at a reception to welcome him alongside his supporters into the PDP at the weekend in Gombe, Mailantarki, a former member of the House of Representatives, said he joined PDP to help revitalise the party to unseat the All Progressives Congress (APC) in 2027.
He alleged that APC government in the state under the leadership of Governor Muhammadu Inuwa Yahaya had woefully failed people of the state for his failure to deliver a good governance.
According to him, PDP is the only strong opposition party capable of seizing power from the APC, hence his decision to join it after quitting the NNPP.
Mailantarki also berated the Governor Yahaya over what he described as the inhuman policies of his administration, “from revoking of lands titles, to subjecting civil servants to unfair daily biometric registration.
“It is unfair to compel civil servants to go to work five times a week under the current economic hardship, without commensurate salary.”
The State PDP chairman, Abnon Kwaskebe, described Mailantarki’s defection alongside his teeming supporters as a huge success for the party.
He promised that the party would provide a level playing ground for all members of the party.
Khamisu Mailantarki came third during the 2023 General Elections, behind Muhammad Jibril Barde of the PDP and Governor Yahaya of the APC.
