A political ally of former Governor Ibrahim Hassan Dankwambo of Gombe State, Alhaji Ahmed Abubakar Walama, has defected to the All Progressives Congress (APC).
Walama, was a two-term commissioner of Local Governments and Chieftaincy Affairs from 2011 to 2019 under the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), when Dankwambo was governor of the state.
Another commissioner during Dankwambo’s second term in office, Sa’idu Kawuwa Malala, also announced his defection to the ruling APC.
Also, a former special adviser, Maigari Usman Malala, and a former Gombe North Zonal Secretary of the PDP, Mohammed Ya’u, and the Deputy State Treasurer, Baba Bawa, have ditched the PDP for APC.
Dankwambo, who is the leader of PDP in the state is contesting to represent Gombe North Senatorial District under the PDP.
He will slug it out with the incumbent, Senator Sa’idu Ahmed Alkali of the APC, who defeated him (Dankwambo) in 2019.
With the current crisis rocking the party, Dankwambo is in the camp of Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike.
He was conspicuously absent at the weekend, when the PDP presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, visited the state to open a campaign office donated by a chieftain of the party, Jamilu Isyaku Gwamna.