By Eustace Dunn
The All Progressives Congress, APC, on Tuesday announced its merger with the group of seven aggrieved governors of the People’s Democratic Party, PDP popularly called the G-7 governors. The governors of Kwara, Sokoto, Kano, Jigawa, Niger, Adamawa, and Rivers are involved in the merger.
The decision by the aggrieved governors to join the opposition party was reached on Monday night following President Goodluck Jonathan’s decision to postpone a meeting with them earlier scheduled to hold on Sunday, November 24, 2013.
With the Abubakar Kawu Baraje-led faction of PDP joining the APC, there are now 18 governors under the aegis of the opposition party. The implication of this is that the APC now has the highest number of state governors under its control followed by the PDP which now has 16 governors while the remaining two governors namely Peter Obi, Anambra State and Olusegun Mimiko, Ondo State are shared by the All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA and the Labour Party, LP.
Although there are speculations that Obi and Mimiko are secretly working in alliance with the PDP, keen observers of the ongoing political game are also quick to point out the chances of more governors currently on the platform of the PDP decamping to the opposition, APC in the days ahead.
Prior to the merger announcement, there had been several meetings between the leadership of the APC and the aggrieved PDP governors. This led to visits to the various states of the concerned governors. Besides that, TELL had earlier reported that the aggrieved governors would eventually join the opposition, APC.