Jamil Gwamna, a chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Gombe State, has defected to the All Progressives Congress (APC).

This is contained in a statement signed by Ibrahim Sani, Mr Gwamna’s aide in Gombe on Saturday.

Mr Sani said Mr Gwamna announced his defection with his supporters on Friday.

He said Mr Gwamna cited internal crisis, poor leadership, disregard for the rule of law within the party and disunity as reasons for his decision to dump the PDP.

Mr Gwamna said, “the leadership of the PDP in the state has poorly managed affairs of the party, which led to different factions within the party.

“My political ideology is anchored on unity, inclusiveness, fairness and justice, and if those are not found in the party, then there is no reason to be in that camp.”

Mr Gwamna, also the Sardauna of Gombe, said the PDP could not manage Gombe State with the “crop of leadership it has that prioritises personal interest against collective interest”.

“In politics, internal democracy is very key, and if you cannot find that playing out, then practising democracy on a larger platform such as governing the state becomes a big issue.”

Mr Gwamna said the APC was more organised in Gombe than any political party and has managed its affairs more family-likely.

He called on his supporters to mobilise grassroots support across the state to ensure that APC retained the state with a better voting margin than that of 2019.

Mr Gwamna is the first runner-up in the Gombe State PDP governorship primaries conducted on May 25.

(NAN)