Salawu told National Mirror in his office in Lokoja yesterday that the defectors are not a threat to the PDP in the state.
According to him, the crowd that graced the defection ceremony was a rented one.
He said some governors came with between 30 and 40 buses to the rally in the state capital ‘loaded’ with ‘rented’ supporters.
The chairman, who was reacting to the defection of over 5,000 members of the PDP to the opposition APC, said the defectors left because of their personal interest.
According to him, the defectors in the state have no electoral value when it comes to the election proper.
He stressed that the PDP would continue to dominate the politics of the state as it has the majority.
“The people who defected did so for their personal ambitions. Clarence was a former acting governor and speaker, while Abdullahi Bello was a former speaker.
“The PDP has given them everything, and for them to decamp shows greed and personal ambition. I leave them to God and their troubled mind,” the chairman stated.
Salawu said the PDP government under Governor Idris Wada had performed very well in terms of human and infrastructural development.
The government, he argued, had successfully turned the youths away from thuggery through empowerment.
On the his purported removal from office, the chairman disclosed that the state executive of the party had not been officially dissolved, and that he remained the state chairman until the next congress is conducted by the party next month.
