The senator representing Anambra South, Patrick Patrick Ubah, has defected to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
He was elected in 2019 on the platform of Young Progressives Party (PDP) and he is the only senator elected on the party’s ticket in the Upper Chamber of the National Assembly.
Ubah said his defection was meant to draft the Southeast into the mainstream of national politics.
Senate President Godswill Akpabio and Senate Leader Opeyemi Bamidele along with six other senators presented Ubah to APC National Chairman, Dr. Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, at the party’s national secretariat in Abuja.
Addressing the ruling party’s National Working Committee (NWC), Ubah said: “It gladdens my heart to see the calibre of men that are here today to welcome me. We have been on this for long and we consummated this a few weeks ago in the United Kingdom (UK).
“I want to take the message to my people that we have a new Sheriff in President Bola Tinubu. I want to be sincere. It has always been difficult for the Igbo nation to get key appointments in the Federal Government because of our sentiments.
“Seventy per cent of us who are multi-millionaires in the Southeast made our money from Lagos. Tinubu can integrate all. It gladdens my heart that Tinubu is rewarding those who didn’t vote for him with Dave Umahi as minister.
“I consulted widely before joining APC. I left YPP to join APC. It is the same ‘progress’. It isn’t about talking but about doing. Mr. President, take it from me that I am going to deliver.”
“President Tinubu has assured me that he will support me. I want to thank you for this reception that you have given me.”
Receiving Ubah into the ruling party, Dr. Ganduje described the former YPP chieftain as an asset to the APC.
He said Ubah would be useful in liberating the Southeast and bringing the zone into mainstream politics.
Presenting Ubah to the APC National Working Committee, Akpabio said the new entrant had told him that he was impressed by the reforms being initiated by President Tinubu, particularly in the oil sector, which informed his decision to join the ruling party.
The Senate President was accompanied by Senators Bamidele, Muhammed Sani Musa, Titus T. Zam, Eteng J. Williams, Mutari Mohammed, and Nwebonyi Onyeka.
