The governorship candidate of the African Democratic Party (ADP) in Edo State, Ibio Emmanuel, has been abandoned by the State Executive Committee (SEC) and most members of the party.

They have joined the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), thereby collapsing the ADP structure.

ADP Edo Organising Secretary Oshodin Izedomwen, who led the defectors yesterday in Benin, said they joined the PDP in view of the capacity of Governor Godwin Obaseki and his running mate, Philip Shaibu, to win the September 19 election.

Izedomwen, a foundation member of the PDP, left the party when some strange bed fellows joined PDP, but he and others opted to return to their ‘home’, as the enemies of democracy had exited the party.

He said: “In politics, interest matters, as it is the driving force.”

Edo PDP Chairman Dr. Tony Aziegbemi, who received the defectors, said he was excited not because of the calibre of persons coming to join the party, but because of their enthusiasm in coming to join the PDP, as a result of the performance of the party’s standard-bearer in the September 19 poll, Obaseki.

He said the defectors would be integrated into Edo PDP, to contribute to the party’s success.