From David Hassan, Gombe
At least no fewer than 30 marshals were said to have defected from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Gombe state.
Their defection was as a result of their perceived inability curb with the affairs of the ruling party, the PDP that recruited them three years ago under the leadership of Governor Ibrahim Hassan Dankwambo.
It could be recalled that Governor Dankwambo in May 2011 vowed to eliminate the activities of the political thugs in the state when he recruited members of the Kalare group as marshals in order to assist the security to checkmate crime.
However some members of the group recently passed a vote of no confidence on the governor and decided to join Sen. Goje for better transformation agenda in the state.
Speaking to newsmen yesterday in Gombe, the Public Relations Officer of the All Progressives Congress, Gombe local government, Alhaji Garba Tella told reporters that the defectors had to join APC due to lack of confidence in PDP, noting that they have dumped their uniform including identification cards for APC which according to him, will be the only party to beat in 2015 general elections.
He said the ruling party had been paying lip service without result saying that the APC has concluded an arrangement to send the ruling party packing starting from federal to local government level.
According to him, the defectors had no alternative than to join APC under the leadership of Sen. Mohammed Danjuma Gombe to enable them witness the dividend of democracy in the country.
He decried the inability of the government which he said had created a lot of havoc to the people where residents lives with hunger, but adding that there is need for citizens to vote the APC to enable them witness the dividends of democracy.
When our correspondent contacted the General Manager, Gombe State Agency for Social Services, Comrade Babaji Hassan Dunami denied the allegation, noting that the marshals were on surveillance, saying that the agency had a total number of 3084 marshals deployed across the state and none of them had defected to any party other than the PDP that recruited them to serve.
