Former Niger Delta Affairs Minister, Godsday Orubebe, has joined the All Progressives Congress (APC) hours after dumping the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
Infopowerng had reported that Orubebe submitted his resignation letter to the PDP National Chairman, Senator Iyorchia Ayu, at the PDP National Secretariat, Abuja, on Monday.
In his letter, Orube stated that he had notified his ward chairman in Burutu Local Government Area of Delta State of his exit from the party.
He claimed that the current situation in the PDP does not show that the opposition party is ready to win the 2023 presidential election.
However, it was learned that the former minister had dumped the PDP some days ago before submitting his resignation letter at the party’s headquarters.
It is understood that Orubebe agreed to join the APC last week after the Deputy Senate President, Senator Ovie Omo-Agege and Delta State APC Chairman, Omeni Sobotie persuaded the former minister.
It was gathered that Omo-Agege and Sobotie were said to have convinced Orubebe to join APC after the PDP chose Atiku Abubakar as its Presidential Candidate.
The APC National Chairman, Senator Abdullahi Adamu and Omo-Agege, are set to take Orubebe to meet with President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa within the next few days to officially welcome him into the party.
A political ally of Orubebe said that barely a few hours after Orubebe dropped his letter at the party’s secretariat, Governor Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta State called the former minister several times to speak with him.
“I was right there with Orubebe when all the calls from Okowa were coming in and Orubebe rebuffed all the calls. As the governor’s calls were coming in, Orubebe was asking; when last it was that Governor Okowa called him and whether it was now he (Okowa) knew someone like Orubebe existed in the PDP,” he said.
Recall that Orubebe came into prominence in 2015 when he attempted to scuttle the collation of results of the presidential election at the International Conference Centre (ICC), Abuja.
Orubebe, who was the PDP agent for the election, accused the then chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Professor Attahiru Jega, of bias against his party.
