A few weeks after he left Nigeria’s main opposition All Progressives Party (APC), Tom Ikimi has stated that he would join the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) where he has friends.
The National Chairman of the defunct National Republican Convention (NRC) during the General Ibrahim Babangida transition programme dumped the APC after being denied the national chairmanship of the party and after bitter squabbles with some leaders of the party, including Bola Tinubu.
The Edo politician then accused Tinubu of hijacking the APC.
Speaking on Monday in Benin, Ikimi said that he is ready to ensure that Edo is included in the mainstream states in the South-South region in future.
He addressed journalists shortly after arriving Benin Airport from Abuja.
The one-time Foreign Affairs Minister said that what was in the future for the state was greater than what had been seen so far, adding that he was back with the Federal Government.
He also said that there was no reason to be at logger head with the Federal Government as development in his native land of Igueben, Edo State, was done by the government at the centre and not the state government.
He further said that he had had discussions with the Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the PDP, Tony Anenih.
According to him, it is time to make peace with his kinsmen as well as time for him to gravitate to a party where he has friends.
Ikimi said it was a good thing that the nation had two dominant political parties, the APC and the PDP, stressing that it was time for people to decide where they belong.
He said that the decision to leave the APC was not for witch hunting or for vendetta, but was quick to add that the APC was a party where leaders witch hunt one another.
The former APC leader said he was back home for final consultation with his people, and that the wait won’t be long before bringing to the awareness of the people the party he was pitching tent with.
Earlier, Osagie Ize-Iyamu, who led some other PDP chieftains to the airport to receive and welcome Ikimi, said that they had come to identify with him and to tell him that they would not allow him to be disgraced.
Ize-Iyamu said the reception was in solidarity with one of their own and to let him know that the people of the state still believed in him and trust him.
