TheCable

Austin Akobundu, national organising secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), has described as “fake news”, the reports of the defection of Ike Ekweremadu, deputy senate president, from the opposition party.

The deputy senate president is said to be aggrieved by the way the party treated him in the process of choosing the running mate of Atiku Abubakar, its presidential candidate.

In a statement on Wednesday, Akobundu described Ekweremadu as the “body and soul” of the PDP.

He added that the rumour was the “handiwork of mischief makers worried at the rising profile of the party.”

“Ekweremadu has made enormous contributions to the party especially during the trying period and cannot leave at this time when the party has been rebranded and is soaring high to regain power in the country in 2019,” Akobundu said in a statement.

“Senator Ekweremadu who is holding the highest political office in the region is thinking of how to galvanize the geo-political area to massively vote out APC and block any other party in the region.

“Intelligence available to the PDP shows that even those who erroneously joined the APC from the area are now full of regrets with some of them even contemplating a return.”

Akobundu urged the public and members of the party in the south east not to be distracted but “continue in their mobilization to vote in the Presidential candidate Atiku Abubakar to victory in 2019 and help rescue the country’s democracy.”