I Regret Defecting To APC, Says Former Nigerian Envoy To S’Africa

Ambassador Ahmed Musa Ibeto, Nigeria’s immediate past Ambassador to South Africa, has said one of his regrets in the past three years was defecting from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the platform that brought him to political limelight, to the ruling, All Progressives Congress (APC).

Ambassador Ibeto who was the Deputy to the former Governor of Niger State, Dr. Mu’azu Babangida Aliyu, has promised not to truncate but to uphold the PDP’s zoning arrangements by serving for only one term if voted into office in 2019.

Ibeto who made the declaration at the state PDP Secretariat on Monday, shortly after submitting his letter of intent to contest the governorship of the state on the party’s platform next year, however, said, “I am happy to be back home.”

Speaking on the reasons for his defection, Ibeto who was one of the strong pillars that brought the APC administration into power in Niger State said he left the PDP due to noticeable injustices which according to him had been addressed by the current leadership of the party.

The former Deputy Governor said he joined the APC with high hopes that the party was going to do much more for the Nigerian populace as promised only to discover that the platform has nothing better to offer Nigerians after all.

Ibeto said, “I regretted joining the APC. Some of us came into the party with high hopes that it was better than the PDP but along the line, I discovered it wasn’t so, what some of us were seeing was rather worrisome.

“I thought the APC was all about development and providing dividends of democracy to the grassroots level as promised but that was not what I saw or seen in the past three years,” the former deputy governor said.

Ibeto said it would be suicidal for him who had served as a member of the then PDP committee that recommended zoning arrangement for the governorship in Niger State adding that, “I will ensure that I leave office after one term.

“I can’t even try distorting the PDP zoning arrangement because that would mean denying the other zones when it is their turn after me and again, my people in zone C will not even allow that to happen because that could cause friction when next it is our turn in the future,” he said.

On his chances of clinching the number one seat of Niger State considering the number of variables, including his frosty relationship with former Governor Babangida Aliyu in the aftermath of his defecting from the PDP, Ibeto said he was hopeful that the odds would favour him.

Ibeto who said he acknowledged and respect the former governor as the leader of the party in Niger State said, “I appreciate the PDP for being magnanimous enough to welcome us back home and has also given every one of us returnee level playing ground.”

Having learnt so much from his former Governor, late Engineer Abdulkadir Kure, his former Principal, Babangida Aliyu, as a former Local Government Council Chairman, a former House of Representatives member and other key positions held in the past, Ibeto said he stands better chance to provide the service Nigerlites had been denied of in the past three years.