Defections rock River APC as former Commissioner returns to PDP

By Mike Odiegwu, Port Harcourt

Rivers chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has continued to shed weight following the inability of the party to resolve its internal crisis.

A former Commissioner for Health during former Governor Rotimi Amaechi administration, Dr. Sampson Parker, led over 2,000 of his supporters from the APC to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) at Okochiri in Okrika Local Government Area.

Governor Nyesom Wike received the defectors at the weekend in a brief ceremony and told residents of Krikese Kingdom the contract for award of the second phase of Okochiri Internal Roads in Okrika Local Government Area had been awarded.

The Governor said his government also awarded the reclamation of 25 hectares of land at the ATC area in Okrika Island and the construction of Wakama-Ogu Road in Ogu/Bolo Local Government Area.

Wike lauded Parker for taking the bold step to come back to his former party and recalled the role played by Parker in the emergence of Amaechi as a governor in 2007.

The Governor said the return of Parker would add value to the party and urged political leaders in the area to integrate him into the scheme of things.

Wike said: “Dr. Parker was one of those God used alongside some of us to bring Amaechi in as Governor of Rivers State in 2007. We thought that from that time, everybody will be united but we didn’t know that some persons had different plans but God’s plan is always the best.

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“When I was leaving in 2012, I told Dr. Parker things are not moving well and I am going. But he insisted that I should remain as there was a need for us to continue to be together.

“But I am happy today that my friend and brother have realised what I told him then and has returned to the PDP. Dr. Parker came at the right time and nobody should discriminate him because, with the level of politics he had played, he will add value to the party”.

Parker described the occasion as a homecoming to the PDP family, saying his conscience and soul were at peace with his decision.

He lauded Wike’s developmental strides in Krikese Kingdom and thanked him for accepting his return to the PDP.

Rivers PDP Chairman, Amb. Desmond Akawor, said the decision of the former Health Commissioner was based on the massive developmental projects the Governor sited across the state.