The opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on Wednesday claimed that it is concluding discussions with six state governors and 27 members of the National Assembly elected on the platform of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) ahead of their defection to the party.

In a statement issued in Abuja on Wednesday through its National Publicity Secretary, Mr. Kola Ologbondiyan, the PDP revealed that discussions on control of party structures in the affected states and senatorial zones had also reached advanced stage.

He added that the discussions would be completed in a couple of weeks after which the undisclosed state governors and lawmakers would announce their defection to the opposition party.

Ologbondiyan further stressed that in line with decisions reached at the discussions, the members of the National Assembly defecting to the PDP would cross-carpet at the reconvening of session in the two chambers, thus increasing the PDP’s numbers in both chambers.

“PDP has already concluded discussions with six APC governors and 27 APC members in the National Assembly who have also drawn their consultations and secured the mandates of their constituents to move to the PDP ahead of the 2019 general election.

“The party assures that all grey areas of the agreement, including issues of waivers and accommodation for participation in primaries, are being smoothened out by the former governor Liyel Imoke-led PDP Contact and Integration Committee, which has been galvanizing our alliances among stakeholders across other parties, including those from the APC.

“These interests and movements from the APC to the PDP are indicators of the consensus by Nigerians to rally on the platform of the PDP to end the economic hardship, bloodletting, violence and infrastructural decay that have become the hallmark of the President Muhammadu Buhari-led APC administration, and return our nation to the path of unity, national cohesion and economic prosperity, which the PDP is known for,” the statement said.

The PDP also expressed its readiness to take back power at the center, as well as in its traditional states of Plateau, Niger, Adamawa, Kano, Bauchi, Nasarawa, Kebbi, Kaduna, Katsina, Kogi, Jigawa, Zamfara, Imo, Edo as well as the South-west states of Oyo, Ogun, Osun, Ondo and Lagos.

“The PDP, therefore, charges all members and supporters to remain steadfast and wary of the gimmicks of the deflated APC which has resorted to sponsoring spurious publications filled with deceptions, fabrications and lies against our party,” he added.