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It wasn’t a quiet Monday in Otukpa. Under the scorching midday sun at Olachagbaha Primary School field, thousands of PDP faithful in Ogbadibo Local Government publicly tore their old membership cards and crossed over to the All Progressives Congress in one of the biggest political earthquakes to hit Benue State this year.
Leading the exodus was Hon. Joseph Akor Igwe, former Chairman of the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) Benue State chapter and until yesterday the PDP chieftain in Ogbadibo. Flanked by ward executives, youth leaders, women groups and ten thousand others by the organizers’ count, Igwe declared that “the era of deception, intimidation and exclusion in the PDP is over.”
The banners told the story in bold colours: “Welcome Decampees” and “Ogbadibo Leaders Welcome All Progressives Congress.” The warmest welcome came from the state’s biggest political attraction right now, Governor Hyacinth Alia, who personally received the defectors and promised them a new home where their voices will count.
For a local government that has been a traditional PDP stronghold, the scale of the defection is nothing short of seismic. Sources within the event say the crowd was so large that the canopies ran out and late arrivals stood under trees. Drummers didn’t stop, brooms were raised high, and the APC anthem drowned out whatever was left of PDP loyalty in the air.
Igwe, known for his deep grassroots network and iron grip on transport unions across the state, didn’t mince words. He accused the PDP leadership of taking Ogbadibo people for granted, sidelining loyal members, and running the party like a private estate. “We have laboured for this party for years and got nothing but insults in return. Today, we are coming home,” he reportedly told the cheering crowd.
The defection comes barely 48 hours after the repossessed-Prado scandal involving a top PDP lawmaker embarrassed the party statewide, and the timing could not have been more devastating for the opposition. Political observers say the move has effectively crippled PDP structures in Ogbadibo and sent a chilling message to other local governments in Zone C: the broom is sweeping, and it’s sweeping clean.
As the new members took the APC oath and collected their brooms, Governor Alia reportedly smiled and said, “Today, Ogbadibo has shown that the people are wiser than the politicians who think they own them.”
For the PDP in Benue, yesterday was not just a bad day; it was a public execution of whatever hope they had of mounting a serious challenge in 2027. Ten thousand members don’t walk away quietly. They walk away with voters, with structures, and with the kind of momentum that keeps opposition leaders awake at night.
The broom revolution just added a whole local government to its collection. And in Otukpa, the drumming hasn’t stopped.
