Hon Julius Ishaya Lepes, the first Commissioner for Youths and Sports Development and later Communication in Muhammadu Inuwa Yahaya’s current APC-led administration, has left the APC and joined the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP).
As a result, Hon Khamisu Ahmad Mailantarki, gubernatorial candidate of the New Nigerian People’s Party (NNPP) in Gombe, has improved his chances.
Before leaving the APC, Julius Ishaya Lepes was a founding member of the APC in the state, a grassroots mobilizer, and a member of Inuwa Yahaya’s kitchen cabinet.
The former Commissioner, who defected to the NNPP after meeting its gubernatorial candidate, Khamisu Mailantarki, said he made his decision after extensive consultation with his supporters and lovers across the state.
He stated that both the APC and the PDP had failed the people, necessitating a fresh start.
He claimed that after joining the PDP, the party’s leadership excluded him from all party affairs, despite his status as a critical stakeholder and former state commissioner.
“I have wisely consulted with my followers, admirers, friends, and families, who felt we should leave the PDP to join this party, NNPP, and work to rescue our state from the neglect and bad governance of the APC,” Julius Ishaya Lepes said.
In the same vein, Hon Shuaibu Baba Sabulu, former Gombe State PDP Chairman, and thousands of other party members, including key party stalwarts, have defected to the New Nigerian Peoples Party (NNPP).
The NNPP gubernatorial candidate, Khamisu Ahmad Mailantarki, as well as the party’s Chairman and other executives, as well as hundreds of supporters, were in Billiri LGA to welcome the decampees, who included Yila Dankuka, a former Deputy Chairman of Billiri LGA, Phillips Bataliya, and Hon Muhammad Balas.
Other participants include current and former LGA and ward party officials, former councillors, and women and youth organizations.
Receiving the defectors, Mailantarki assured them that they would be included in all party activities, especially now that the campaigns will officially begin soon.
He urged them to garner more support and promote the party and its candidates throughout the state, emphasizing that it is only through grassroots mobilization and voter sensitization that the NNPP can uproot and defeat the state’s failed ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
The chairman of the state chapter of the NNPP, Maikano Abdullahi, assured the defectors of equal opportunities in the party, assuring that the NNPP would always uphold the tenets of justice, fairness, and equity while presenting the NNPP membership card to the new members.
Speaking on behalf of the decampees, Hon. Baba Sabulu stated that they decided to leave the PDP and join the NNPP because the state requires better leadership, which Mailantarki can provide.
“We all decided to quit and join the NNPP so that we can have better leadership in Gombe State.
“We believe Mailantarki is a better replacement for Gombe. He possesses the necessary character and capacity to free Gombe State from the APC’s misrule. “He’s always said the right things and done the right things in the past,” he said.
