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President Muhammadu Buhari has received former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Dimeji Bankole, and former governor of Ogun State, Gbenga Daniel, who recently moved over to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
They were accompanied to the Presidential Villa on Monday by the Chairman, Caretaker Extraordinary Convention Planning Committee (CECPC) of the APC, and Governor of Yobe, Mai Mala Buni, Governors of Jigawa State, Mohammed Badaru and Kebbi, Atiku Bagudu.
Recall that Daniel was governor of Ogun State from 2003 to 2011 while Mr Bankole was Speaker of the House of Representatives of Nigeria (2007–2011), all on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
Gbenga Daniel during his defection earlier in February said his decision to join the party was well-thought-out and he called on fellow Nigerians to join hands with the Federal Government and rebuild the socio-economic fortunes of the country.
Bankole defected to the PDP for African Democratic Party (ADP) before now moving to APC.
Buni, who spoke to State House correspondents after the introduction of the affected defectors, said they came to present the new party members to the president who expressed delight at the calibre of the defectors.
He said: “We came to present new members of our party, Daniel and Bankole. Mr President is impressed and happy that leaders of such caliber are joining our party at this time we are registering new members, because registering and validating our membership, and indeed this is the right time for them to join us.
“And that’s exactly what Mr President is very happy. He’s pleased and impressed.”
Also speaking, Bankole said he joined the ruling party to give support to the effort the president was making, adding, “there are issues we need to solve and any reasonable human beings should support at this moment.
“From Borno to Lagos, Bayelsa to Sokoto. These are critical times and we shouldn’t be found wanting.’’